In October 1949 the tiny Taiwanese island of Kinmen made the world's headlines as Republican soldiers drove communist forces back into the sea. A mere 1.8 km from mainland China and trapped between the jaws of two promontories, Kinmen proved difficult for the attackers to chew and swallow. For several decades the island and mainland remained only on shelling, then on yelling, terms. Bombardment continued intermittently until 1978, and vast p.a. systems broadcast propaganda each way across the narrow straight truly a dialogue of the deaf.
Now visitors to Xiamen, the Chinese city across the water, can do more than...
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