During the height of the Cold War in the 1950s the small island of Quemoy in the Taiwan Strait was the front line in the military standoff between Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China and Mao Zedong's People's Republic. Local society and culture were dramatically transformed. Michael Szonyi uses oral history, official documents, and dissident writings to convey the history of the island during this period. In so doing, he sheds light on the social and cultural impact of the Cold War on those who lived through it, as well as on the relationship between China, the United States and the USSR at this critical moment. By analysing the effects of Quemoy's distinctive geopolitical situation on the economy, gender and the family, and citizenship and religion, the book provides a new perspective on the social history of Cold War relations, showing how geopolitics can affect individual lives and communities.
I really enjoyed this book, so much to the point where I want to read more about Taiwan during the Cold War.
Szonyi's argument is presented like it is a big deviation from normal historiography in the introduction, but I think the approach to each of his argument is a bit of an expected formula, at times; He'll lay out the situation for you, demonstrate why it is important to understand a key event, and how the locals responded to an event/interacted with officials or the State (usually including some way that they got around proscribed laws/conventions). What made it really stand out in my mind was the examples presented and the manner in which Szonyi drew a clear connection between PRC policy/political atmosphere, and at times global as well, and ROC policy/political atmosphere. It was really an entertaining read and I feel like I got a lot from it. I understand why Jinmen may be thought of as a very important historic area because of its geopolitical role in the Cold War(, especially after reading the part on page 233 that covers how Taiwan might have also fallen to the PRC if Jinmen's resistance at Guningtou had failed.)
The comment of the two sides being mirror images is very insightful. The author also does a great job showing the ever-shifting geopolitical relations during the "Cold War"period and the changing positions of Jinmen in that context. The chapter on ghosts and temples is gold.