Taiwan Docs

The  people of Kinmen were orphans some fifty years ago, as they are still today. The 1987 lifting of material law covered Taiwan and the Penghu Islands,but Kinmen and Matzu still remain under martial law. The film shows how only still cameras are allowed in Kinmen, while on the other hand in Taiwan the marches demonstrating love for Kinmen and Matzu are recorded with motion picture equipment, showing discriminatory treatment through contrasting still and moving images. Director Cheng-Liang Dong narrates in the first person, and while viewing the shots the audience listens to his soliloquy. In the 1989 election for national legislators, the Democratic Progressive Party candidate Weng Ming-chih appealed to the Fuchien government to abrogate martial law in Kinmen and Matsu, but the authorities, giving "possible influence on safety in a war zone" as the reason, restricted coming and going to and from Kinmen, putting him on the black list and making it impossible for him to return his homeland. His sound trucks were given frequent warnings by the police, and his fliers were often confiscated, while his Kuomintang opponent was allowed to hang his banners on the Patatzu Tower. The local newspaper, controlled by the Kuomintang, capitalized on the local hatred of Taiwan independence, and kept emphasizing that the Democratic Progressive Party was the same as Taiwan independence, while calling Weng a "fake Kinmenite." When Cheng-Liang Dong worked as Weng's campaign assistant, it caused a great unease between the generations in his family. The August 23 Love the Kinmen Homeland march finally achieved the long-overdue policy, that the homeland of the Kinmen people would no longer be a battle ground. In 2000 came the transfer of power to a new regime, and Ung is now secretary general of Fuchien. As we look back on these Kinmen stories, we see that Kinmen drama is never-ending.