S-PLORATION SERIES
VOL.4
Military Ruins in Kinmen
13th-16th Century Maritime Trading flourished in seaports along the Southeast coast of Mainland China, luring in pirates harassing cities & islands residing on the coastlines. Among them was an island called Kinmen (Quemoy in Cantonese) that had significant tactical advantage protecting the defenseless harbors, its mandarin name “金門” /Jīng Mén/ (i.e. The Golden Gates) is abbreviated from the verse “固若金湯,雄鎮海門”, meaning “As impregnable as a city made of iron, watching over the sea gates with glorious stature.” In the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), authorities had since installed significant numbers of military personnel that became long-time residents on the island, marking the prologue to Kinmen’s strife-ridden history...
VOL.4
Military Theaters in Kinmen
According to official records, Kinmen islands measures only 150 km2 of land, and since the Battle of Guningtou (the only victory for the ROC garrisons in wake of their total defeat in the Chinese Civil War), 51k men had been stationed on this small island defending the very frontline of the Nationalists’ remaining territory...
VOL.4
Hokkien Manors & Westernized Mansions
Earliest developments on the island of Kinmen dates back to the Jin Dynasty (266-420). With settlers coming from Southeastern China, the architectural styles of Southern Min traditional courtyards have thus been brought into the Kinmen Islands to thrive and prosper...
VOL.3:
Mt. Jiali Night Cam
Today we’ll be sharing moments documented from our SCM test ride back in March when the development of the SCM had finally entered its testing stages, we took the prototypes from downtown Taipei into the ravines of Fengmei Creek in Mt. Jiali for a final spin...
VOL.3:
Mt. Jiali Night Cam
"Only when we distant our minds from the bustling city and immerse ourselves in the great outdoors, can we truly witness the vastness of nature and the insignificance of humanity. ”
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VOL.2:
The Mediterranean Vacation Resort
Along the estuary of Tamsui river nestles the remains of a monstrous structure resembling a modern-day fortress. Its tarnished & corroded iron gates fenced off its mystic aura and deadly silence from the entrance of any living, breathing being. This luxurious vacation resort had once been the rendezvous for the haut monde, the synonym for exquisite taste, and the Garden of Eden neighboring the bustling urban jungle of downtown Taipei...
Pilot:
The Dunes of Ding-Tou-é Sandbar.
Reminiscent of the endlessly-stretching deserts on the planet of Arrakis, home to the desert-dwelling Fremen people in Frank Herbert’s Sci-fi novel epic Dune, it is rather astonishing to locate the desert-like Ding-Tou-é Sandbar on the subtropical island of Taiwan. Sitting on the westernmost front of Formosa, the Ding-Tou-é Sandbar is another fine collection to Taiwan’s rich variety of geological landscapes...