Island Voices: When Matsu Moves Beyond the Battlefield and Becomes Itself

Book Story

Naval blockades, wartime restrictions, and military tribunals—Matsu once lay beneath a prolonged darkness. In postwar Taiwan, a group of writers encountered the islands through the lens of the Cold War, moving along the narrow waters of East Asia, while others were born into Matsu itself, confined by its isolation.

Their works bear witness to how Matsu has endured historical wounds, waiting in the deep waters of literature for the return of light. These narratives—“other” and “external” to the framework of the Republic of China and Taiwan—also expand the possibilities for imagining what it means to be a “new Taiwanese.”

After 1949, Matsu was incorporated into the Republic of China, transforming a peripheral archipelago into a frontline military zone.

This book traces the development of Matsu literature from 1949 to the present, interweaving historical, political, geographical, and socio-cultural perspectives, along with contemporary commentary. It explores how, over the past half-century, Matsu has gradually recovered its voice and formed a subjectivity that is both connected to and distinct from “ROC Taiwan.”

From veterans who once “waited for war,” hoping conflict would break the stagnation of Cold War militarization, to today’s tensions between competing historical narratives of “ROC vs. Taiwan,” Matsu continues to occupy an uneasy in-between position.

At present, the island once again seems to be “waiting for war”—a war imagined as a possible rupture that might give birth to a “new Taiwanese archipelago identity” and a redefined collective community.

Yet such a community can only emerge by first understanding Matsu’s deep historical experiences and acknowledging the wounds it has borne. Only then can it move gradually toward the dawn beyond its long night.

As writer Chang Chuan-Fen notes in the book’s foreword: “At a certain threshold, for the sake of psychological and bodily dwelling, wisdom may say: I know we are all different, but I will draw the boundary of community here—and I will go home.”

Author : Liu Yi

Liu Yi was born in Zhongli and is of mixed Matsu and Taiwanese heritage. He graduated from the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University, National Taiwan University (Department of Sociology), and National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature. He also studied at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Letters as an exchange student, where he spent a year walking along the Kamo River.

He has received several literary awards, including the Matsu Literary Award, National Taiwan University Literary Award, and Lin Rong-San Literary Award. His essays and criticism have appeared in Ming Pao Daily, The News Lens International, and Initium Media.