The Jinguitou Fortress () is a former

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Magong City Magong (Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Má-keng'') is a county-administered city and county seat, seat of Penghu County, Taiwan. Magong City is located on Penghu's main island. Name The settlement's Mazu temples, temple honoring the Chinese folk r ...

Penghu The Penghu (, Hokkien POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, located approximately west from the main island of Taiwan, covering an area ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

History

At the early stage, an artillery was already built at the site of the fortress during the

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning (), also known as Tywan by the British at the time, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly Han Chinese state in Ta ...

. In 1717, the new Penghu city was rebuilt at the fortress area during the Qing Dynasty rule. In 1864, the fortress was reconstructed by Vice Brigadier General Wu Qixun and named it Jinguitou Fortress. During the

Sino-French War The Sino-French War (, french: Guerre franco-chinoise, vi, Chiến tranh Pháp-Thanh), also known as the Tonkin War and Tonquin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885. There was no declaration of war. The Chinese arm ...

in 1884–1885, the fortress was destroyed. After the war ended, Liu Mingchuan was appointed as governor to handle the reconstruction works in Taiwan. In 1887, Wu Hongluo was appointed by him as garrison commander to rebuild the forts in Penghu. During the

Japanese rule of Taiwan The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The shor ...

, the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

used the fortress for their military maneuvers. After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

in 1945, the Nationalist Government change the space usage of the fortress.

Architecture

The fortress is rectangular in shape with inner and outer walls. It has two arched entrances. Nearby the fortress are the large barrack, large and ammunition depots and three offices.

References

1864 establishments in Taiwan Forts in Penghu County Military installations established in 1864 National monuments of Taiwan {{Taiwan-struct-stub

History

Architecture

See also

References