Lieyu, Kinmen

Lieyu Township (烈嶼鄉, Lia̍t-sū-hiong), commonly known as Lesser Kinmen (Chinese: 小金門) is located to the Southwest of main Kinmen Island in between main Kinmen and Xiamen. It is situated outside the mouth of mainland China's Jiulong river and inside Xiamen's harbor. The distance from mainland China at the closest point is only about 5000 meters and is located in a very strategic position.

The People's Republic of China claims Kinmen County (Jinmen County in pinyin) as part of its Quanzhou prefecture in Fujian province. The island is currently administered by the government of the Republic of China.

Small Kinmen is divided into numerous village administration districts: Linhu Village, Shangqi Village, Xikou Village, Huangpu Village, and Shanglin Village.

Lieyu also administers Dadan (大擔) and Erdan (二擔) islands, respectively 5 and 6 km to the southwest. In 1950, Dadan was the site of a minor battle in the Chinese Civil War.^[1]

History

The first people arrived from the central plains for China during the time of the Tang Dynasty and quickly developed the island and population multiplied. During the Tang Dynasty, an official based in Fujian named Liu Mian said, a horse pasture was set up on the island. During the Song Dyansty, a salt-works was constructed. During the Ming dynasty a frontier command was constructed, Qing dynasty garrison was sent to protect against Japanese pirates. Koxinga, from 1646 was on the island Wu Mountain society civil and military in order to recover the Ming Dynasty and overthrow the Qing dynasty.

See also

• Wuciou
• Matsu
• List of islands of the Republic of China

References

External links

• Fujian Provincial Government website (Chinese (Taiwan))