Nangan, Lienchiang


Nangan Township is a rural township in the Matsu Islands and the county seat of Lienchiang County, Taiwan.
There is an airport in Nangan. The highest point is Yuntai Mountain, at above sea level.

Name

Nangan Township is named for Nangan Island, the main island in the township. Nangan was also known Nangantang. Because Lin Moniang's corpse was washed ashore here, Nangan was also known as Matsu Island / Ma-tsu Island / Matsu Shan / Matsu-Shan . In Song and Ming records, Nangan Island was called Shanggantang/Shanggantangshan as opposed to Beigan Island, which was called Xiagantang/Xiagantangshan.

History

In 1935, a baojia was created including Nangan Island.
In 1949, ROC forces were stationed on Nangan Island.
At 3 AM on January 9, 1966, three seamen from the PRC defected to the ROC at Nangan Island. They were ambushed and killed in transit to Taipei.
In 2000, as part of the Three Links, transportation between Nangan Island's Fuao and Mawei District in Fuzhou was established.
In 2003, Nangan Airport was opened.
On the morning of May 4, 2016, Jiaonan Village Branch Chinese Communist Party Secretary Liu Wenjian and Niujiao Community Assistant Manager Tsao Erh-Chang met in Nangan Township and signed a memorandum of mutual exchange and cooperation. Others present included the Magistrate of Lienchiang County, ROC Liu Cheng-ying, Tailu Party Secretary Huang Duanming, Nangan Township Mayor Chen Chen-Ko and others.

Geography

The island of Nangan is not only the largest island of its township, but also the largest island of Matsu. Nangan Township is also the largest township in Lienchiang County, with a population of about 4,000. The highest point of the island is the Yuntai Mountain peak at 250m. Nangan's climate is classified as subtropical, with distinct seasons. The average year-round temperature is 20C, with July and August reaching 34C and January temperatures as low as 1.8C. There is an intense fog period during March and April which often affects the scheduled flights at Nangan Airport.
Other islets in Nangan Township include Huangguan Yu, Xie Jiao, Beiquan Jiao, and Liuquan Jiao.

Politics and government

Administrative divisions

There are 10 villages located on Nangan. At the eastern end of the island is Jieshou, the seat of the county government and the largest village. Following the coastal road west from Jieshou, there are Fuxing, Fuao, Qingshui, Zhuluo and Mazu. Following the mountain road west, there are Meishi, Renai and Jinsha, before once again reaching Mazu. Located to the north of Mazu is Siwei. In addition to these, there are two smaller villages or clusters of homes. These are Furen and Ketiao, they are located near Siwei.
Many villages on Nangan have two names. In some cases, this was the result of politics, as one is the traditional name and the second has a political connotation. These instances are paired as follows with the traditional name first: Shanlong : Jieshou, Niujiao : Fuxing, Tieban : Renai, and Fuao : Jingze. These names are often used interchangeably by residents, except for Jingze. Residents objected to this latter name, and so it never came into popular use. The reference to Shanlong is also important as there is a neighborhood there called Zhonglong. Mazu is also referred to as Magang and Siwei as Xiwei. As for Mazu and Magang, Magang is the preferred name. This could be in order to distinguish the village and its harbor from Mazu, the goddess, and Mazu the island chain. Xiwei was derived from the local Fuzhou dialect's pronunciation of Siwei.
The nine rural villages of Nangan Township are:
  1. Li Chun-Hua
  2. Nieh Ko-Tung
  3. Pan Fu , later mayor of Beigan
  4. Yu Te-Chu , also mayor of Beigan
  5. Hsueh Chih-Lien , later mayor of Juguang
  6. Pan Fu
  7. Chen I-Peng , former mayor of Beigan and Juguang
  1. Yeh Chin-Fu
  2. Chang Hsiang-Shou
  3. Chiu Ying-Piao
  4. Chen Shu-Li
  5. Chen Hsiu-Hua
  6. Lin Shu-Ching
  7. Chu Hsiu-Ping
  8. Chen Chen-Ko , in 2018 received nearly four-thousand votes

    Tourism

The Palace of Heavenly Empress in Matsu Village contains the coffin of Lin Moniang. The temple also contains statues of the guards, Thousand-li Eye and Wind-following Ear. There is an annual celebration on March 3.
Matsu Distillery on Wujiao Hill in Fusing Village produces daqu wine and sorghum wine.
Shengli Water Reservoir and a museum are located in Cingshuei Village. The museum contains four cannons from Jyuguang which were used to guide boats. Another museum is the Matsu Folk Culture Museum and Ching-Kuo Memorial Hall.
There are two abandoned military tunnels on the island: Tunnel 88 and Beihai Tunnel. Former military stronghold is Dahan Stronghold.
Nature in the township is Shengtian Park.

Infrastructure

The electricity for the township is supplied by Zhushan Power Plant.

Transportation

Air

The township has bus services connecting its villages, which consists of coastal line and mountain line.

Notable natives