Kinmen Travel

The Kinmen Civil Defense Tunnel is the most interesting and exciting visit in our entire Kinmen Island Tour. It is the first part of the B Tour and is a mile long trek along an underground tunnel that takes about 30 minutes. The tour starts with a briefing by the Tour Guide at the Office Tower located at the Jincheng Bus Terminal. The initial part of the trek along the tunnel ( under the Jincheng Town) is lighted and as we trekked further , part of the tunnel was in completed darkness. The Guide recommended that we touch the left side of the wall during the trek in pitch darkness as a guide to go forward. The pitch darkness is deliberately initiated for about a 5 minutes trek for us to experience the sensation of complete darkness - a most exciting experience ! After trekking almost half way, we had to trek thru a period of over 5 minutes of near complete darkness and experiencing the drama of continuous bombing and artillery firing- a sound simulation of the the continuous bombing by the enemy. Trekking thru the Kinsmen Civil Defense Tunnel is indeed a great experience and should not be missed unless one has difficulty trekking the mile long adventure.

Jincheng Civil Defense Tunnel stretched a little over a mile from Jincheng Bus Terminal to Jincheng Stadium. With Kinmen being the front for the conflict between the Communists and the Nationalists, pretty good portion of the island had an extensive tunnel network underground. You can only go guided, but hourly tours were offered throughout the day and you get to walk through the entirety of the tunnel. It wasn’t too claustrophobia-inducing as I was able to stand upright (I’m about 187cm tall) through most of it.

the his tory of the Island is so important and yes a visit to all of the tunnels should be done. the understanding of what the soldiers went through for these many years and how they survived is also really interesting

Kinmen is famous for its tunnels. China did not cease shelling Kinmen until 1992. This is a civil defense tunnel. It was hard for residents to get off the island, so they had to have somewhere to shelter from potential threats. Now that China nd Taiwan have reached a modus vivendi over Taiwan Strait islands, hopefully that's all over.

Of all the things to do and see in Kinmen (which is actually not too much), this is one of the more interesting things. It is a small narrow tunnel, approx 1.4 km in length which is remainder of the wartime. The walk (or guided tour in case you understand mandarin) starts in the second floor of the JingCheng bus terminal and ends just outside the township. During the 20 minute walk sometimes the lights will flicker and noise of an areal bombardment simulates a wartime attack and you get a glimpse of the claustrophobic feeling this must have had back then. On the way back you can stroll through old streets, visit some temples and, if you are lucky enough, you can find a restaurant or coffee shop to buy yourself a refreshment.