Remote islands off Fuzhou — named for the goddess Mazu, with a Fuzhou-dialect culture all their own, the glowing "Blue Tears," stone villages and Cold War tunnels.
福州外海的偏遠島嶼——以女神媽祖命名,有獨樹一格的福州話文化、發光的「藍眼淚」、石頭聚落與冷戰坑道。
The Matsu Islands are officially Lienchiang County (連江縣), the smallest and most remote county of Taiwan (the ROC). The archipelago does not sit near Taiwan at all — it lies scattered off the mouth of the Min River, just a few kilometers from Fuzhou on the coast of mainland China. It is the only county in Taiwan whose dominant language and culture are Eastern Min / Fuzhou-dialect (馬祖話／閩東語) — not the Hokkien spoken across most of Taiwan. Culturally and linguistically, Matsu belongs to the Fuzhou world of northeastern Fujian.
馬祖列島正式名稱為連江縣,是台灣(中華民國)面積最小、位置最偏遠的縣。這片群島並不靠近台灣本島,而是散布在閩江口外,距離大陸海岸的福州僅數公里。它是台灣唯一以閩東語(馬祖話)為主流語言與文化的縣——而非台灣多數地區所說的閩南語。在文化與語言上,馬祖屬於閩東北的福州文化圈。
The name "Matsu" comes from the sea-goddess Mazu (媽祖), patron of fishermen. Legend says that when the young Lin Moniang (Mazu's mortal name) drowned trying to save her shipwrecked father, her body drifted ashore on the island now called Nangan (南竿). Villagers buried her there, and the Nangan Tianhou Temple is said to enshrine her tomb — the only Mazu temple in the world claimed to hold her body. The islands and the goddess share the same name.
「馬祖」之名來自海上女神媽祖,漁民的守護神。傳說年輕的林默娘(媽祖的俗名)為救遇難父親而溺水,遺體漂流上岸於今日的南竿島。村民將她安葬於此,南竿天后宮據說即供奉其衣冠塚——是世上唯一相傳藏有媽祖遺體的廟宇。島與神共用同一個名字。
For most of the twentieth century, Matsu was a sealed military frontline. After 1949, these tiny islands became one of the closest ROC outposts to the mainland, and from 1956 they lived under the Warzone Administration (戰地政務) — direct military rule — alongside Kinmen. Soldiers honeycombed the granite hills with hand-dug tunnels and carved slogans into the rock; military rule was finally lifted on 7 November 1992. Today Matsu has reinvented itself around tourism — the "Blue Tears" bioluminescence, the Cold War tunnels and the photogenic Eastern-Fujian stone villages — though thick spring fog still routinely grounds its flights and ferries.
二十世紀大半時間,馬祖是封鎖的軍事前線。1949 年後,這些小島成為中華民國最接近大陸的前哨之一,自 1956 年起與金門一同實施戰地政務——軍事直接統治。官兵在花崗岩山體中徒手鑿出坑道、在岩壁刻下標語;軍管最終於 1992 年 11 月 7 日解除。如今馬祖圍繞觀光重新定位——「藍眼淚」生物螢光、冷戰坑道與上鏡的閩東石頭聚落——儘管春季濃霧仍經常使航班與渡輪停擺。
A vast "井"-shaped sea tunnel hand-dug by soldiers in the late 1960s to hide gunboats — about 640 m of waterways cut straight into granite. Today visitors paddle through it by sampan or kayak, and on summer nights it is one of the best places to see the Blue Tears glow.
Matsu's signature natural wonder — a glowing blue light in the night sea caused by bioluminescent plankton that flash when disturbed by waves or oars. Seasonal, best seen roughly April to June, and never guaranteed — a matter of luck and conditions.
The most iconic Eastern-Fujian stone village in Matsu, its granite houses stacked up a hillside above a turquoise bay on Beigan — nicknamed the "Mediterranean of Matsu." Once a fishing community, it now holds homestays, cafés and galleries among the old stone walls.
A tiny coastal fortress carved directly into a solitary lump of seaside rock, complete with gun ports, sleeping quarters and even kennels for guard dogs — a vivid sign of how thoroughly the islands were fortified during the Cold War.
The most important temple in Matsu, said to enshrine Mazu's tomb. On the hill above stands the Mazu statue, about 28.8 m tall — a height chosen to match the county's then-measured land area of 28.8 km² — built in 2009 from 365 granite blocks.
A three-level coastal tunnel-fort blasted into the Nangan cliffs in 1975–76, with a roughly 430 m tunnel network, gun positions facing the sea, and a command level inside the rock. It lies near the Beihai Tunnel along the Tieban Coast.
A white British-built lighthouse on Dongyin's eastern tip, completed in 1904 in late-Victorian English style. About 14 m tall, it was the first lighthouse on the China coast to use an incandescent gas mantle, and is now a national historic site.
Built by the British in 1872 to guide ships to the newly opened treaty port of Fuzhou, this is the first granite lighthouse in Taiwan, about 19.5 m tall — a designated historic monument on Dongju Island.
A 41-character cliff inscription, the oldest and largest in Matsu. It commemorates the Ming general Shen Yourong, who in 1617 captured 69 Japanese pirates on this island without losing a single soldier; carved in 1630 and rediscovered by soldiers in 1953.
One of the most demanding military tunnels to visit in Matsu — a long, steep underground complex dug into Dongyin's hills, with chambers, gun positions and openings that frame dramatic sea views.
Matsu's culture is unlike anywhere else in Taiwan — Fuzhou in language, stone in its houses, and the goddess Mazu in its very name.
Matsu's living language is Matsu dialect (馬祖話), a form of Eastern Min / Fuzhou speech mutually unintelligible with Taiwan's Hokkien — making Matsu culturally tied to Fuzhou, not the rest of Taiwan. Traditional Mindong stone houses are built of yellow granite, with small high windows (against wind and pirates), roof tiles weighted down with stones, and flame-shaped "fire-sealing" gabled walls (封火山牆).
The islands are named for the goddess Mazu, and Nangan's Tianhou Temple is uniquely said to hold her tomb. The islands' signature festival is the Baimei (擺暝) Lunar New Year deity-procession — nights of swaying wind-lanterns and "carrying the gods" (扛乩) — a folk tradition found only in Matsu, drawing on its Fuzhou roots.
Matsu is genuinely tiny — its total population is only around 14,000, the smallest of any county in Taiwan — so its most meaningful "names" belong to heritage. Foremost is the sea-goddess Mazu (Lin Moniang), for whom the islands are named and whose legendary tomb lies on Nangan.
The Ming commander Shen Yourong is commemorated in the Dapu Stone Inscription on Dongju for his 1617 victory over pirates, and the great Ming general Qi Jiguang gave his name to the islands' "Matsu burger," the Jiguang flatbread — historical figures woven into Matsu's stone and food.
Matsu's signature festival, around the Lunar New Year and Lantern Festival. Originating in the Fuzhou region, it features nights of swaying wind-lanterns and deity processions; in Beigan's Qiaozi and Jinsha, palanquin-bearers perform a shaking "carrying the gods" dance. Registered as a national folk custom in 2019.
Roughly April to June — not a festival but the key natural season that now anchors Matsu tourism, when the dark sea glows blue at the touch of an oar.
Pilgrimage and birthday celebrations centered on the Nangan Tianhou Temple, honoring the goddess for whom the islands are named.
Matsu hosts marathon and fishing-season events tied to its island calendar — drawing visitors out to the far northern outpost of Dongyin and the stone villages of Beigan.
Matsu's kitchen is pure Fuzhou — rice wine in everything, red wine-lees for color, and fish turned into noodles.
Amber glutinous-rice wine fermented with red yeast — the soul of Matsu cooking, used in laojiu noodle soup and warming laojiu chicken and egg.
Countywide 全縣Strong sorghum liquor, aged in the constant cool of Tunnel 88 (八八坑道), a former military tunnel now used by the Matsu Distillery to store its spirits.
Nangan 南竿Fuzhou-style dishes cooked with red wine-lees — the residue of red-yeast rice wine — giving a savory-sweet flavor and red color, as in red-lees chicken and eel.
Countywide 全縣A Matsu specialty — noodles made by mixing pounded fish paste with a little flour, then drying it; born from the need to preserve surplus catch.
Countywide 全縣A round sesame flatbread named after Ming general Qi Jiguang, who strung it on cords as marching rations — today often split and filled with egg or pork.
Countywide 全縣A Fuzhou-style rice-batter dish, the batter cooked along the rim of a hot wok into soft sheets served in a savory soup.
Countywide 全縣Especially on Dongyin — large mussels and the prized "Buddha's hand" goose barnacles, prised from the wave-battered rocks.
Dongyin 東引Yellow croaker and other fresh catch are island staples of these Fuzhou-facing fishing waters.
Countywide 全縣The bioluminescent glow that lights the night sea in spring and summer.
The Beihai Tunnel and a battlefield of hand-dug forts and slogans.
Qinbi and the Eastern-Fujian granite villages above the sea.
The only part of Taiwan where the Fuzhou dialect is spoken.
The islands' namesake, her temple and tomb and giant statue on Nangan.
Rice wine, red-lees cooking, fish noodles and the Jiguang "burger."
Introduce Matsu to a visitor — tap 🔊 to hear each sentence. 用英文向訪客介紹馬祖,點 🔊 聽聽看。
Sources · 資料來源:連江縣政府、馬祖國家風景區管理處、文化部、維基百科等公開資料整理。兩岸與軍事史採中性、事實陳述。