The Penghu (ˈpʌŋˈhuː, 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 across the Penghu Channel, covering an area of . The archipelago collectively forms Penghu County of Taiwan and is the smallest county of Taiwan. The largest city is Magong, located on the largest island, which is also named Magong.
The Penghu islands first appear in the historical record during the Tang dynasty and were inhabited by Chinese people by the Southern Song dynasty, during which they were attached to Jinjiang County of Fujian. The archipelago was formally incorporated as an administrative unit of China in 1281 under Tong'an County of Jiangzhe Province during the Yuan dynasty. It continued to be controlled by Imperial China with brief European occupations by the Dutch (1622–1624) and French (1885), until it was ceded to the Japanese Empire in 1895. Since the end of World War II, Penghu has been governed by the Republic of China (ROC). Under the terms of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and the subsequent Taiwan Relations Act between the ROC and the United States, Penghu is defined and geographically acknowledged as part of Taiwan.
Penghu Islands rely solely on sea and air transportation, with air transport taking a significant part for outside access. The islands are served by three local domestic airports: Penghu Airport, Qimei Airport, and Wang-an Airport. The Penghu National Scenic Area comprises most of the islands and islets of the archipelago, it is also renowned for its unique natural feature of columnar basalt landscape. Tourism is one of the main sources of income to the county.
The "Penghu" islands were mentioned in a series of poems during the Tang dynasty (618–907). During the Song dynasty (960–1279), it was mentioned that during the Tang period, "Pinghu" barbarians from beyond Quanzhou laid siege to Fuzhou, now the capital of Fujian Province.
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The Matsu Islands (UKˌmætˈsuː or USˌmɑːtˈsuː), officially Lienchiang County (ljɛnˈdʒjɑːŋ), are an archipelago of 36 islands and islets in the East China Sea governed by the Republic of China (Taiwan), situated alongside the southeastern coast of mainland China. The archipelago forms the smallest county in the ROC-controlled territories by area and population, as well as one of two counties that is a part of the nominal Fuchien Province.
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 short-lived Republic of Formosa resistance movement was suppressed by Japanese troops and quickly defeated in the Capitulation of Tainan, ending organized resistance to Japanese occupation and inaugurating five decades of Japanese rule over Taiwan.
The Taiwan Strait is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. The Taiwan Strait is itself a subject of an international dispute over its political status. As the People's Republic of China claims to enjoy "sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait" and regards the waterway as "internal territorial waters" instead of being international waters, this means that the Chinese government denies any foreign vessel having the freedom of navigation to cross the strait without Chinese official consent.
Hong Kong and Taiwan have experienced significant social changes in the last decades. This course aims to provide students a broad knowledge foundation to understand the two East Asian societies from