Penghu

Penghu 1, a fossil jaw (mandible) dating to the late Pleistocene that belonged to a member of an extinct hominin species, was discovered in the Pescadores Channel around 2008.

Finds of fine red cord-marked pottery at Guoye, Huxi, indicate that Penghu was visited by Austronesians from southwestern Taiwan around 5,000 years ago, though not settled permanently.[10]

Han Chinese from southern Fujian began to establish fishing communities on the islands in the 9th and 10th centuries,[10] and representatives were intermittently stationed there by the Southern Song and Yuan governments from around 1170.[11] Chinese fishermen had settled on the Penghu Islands by 1171, when a group of "Bisheye" bandits with dark skin speaking a foreign language landed on Penghu and plundered the fields planted by Chinese migrants. The Song government sent soldiers after them and from that time on, Song patrols regularly visited Penghu in the spring and summer. A local official, Wang Dayou, had houses built on Penghu and stationed troops there to prevent depredations from the Bisheye.[12][13][11]

In 1225, the Book of Barbarian Nations anecdotally indicated that Penghu was attached to Jinjiang, Quanzhou Prefecture.[3] A group of Quanzhou immigrants lived on Penghu.[14]

In November 1281, the Yuan dynasty under Emperor Shizu officially established the Penghu Patrol and Inspection Agency under the jurisdiction of Tong'an County, incorporating Penghu into China's borders 403 years earlier than Taiwan.[3]

Wang Dayuan gave a detailed first-hand account of the islands in his Daoyi Zhilüe (1349).[15]

In the 15th century, the Ming ordered the evacuation of the islands as part of their maritime ban. When these restrictions were removed in the late 16th century, legal fishing communities, most of which hailed from Tong'an County,[16] were re-established on the islands. These fishermen worshiped at the Mazu Temple that gave Magong its name and themselves gave rise to the Portuguese and English name Pescadores.[11] The Ming established a permanent military presence starting in 1597.[17]

At this time, the Dutch East India Company was trying to force China to open a port in Fujian to Dutch trade and expel the Portuguese from Macau.[18][19][20] When the Dutch were defeated by the Portuguese at the Battle of Macau in 1622, they seized Penghu, built a fort there, and threatened raids on Chinese ports and shipping unless the Chinese allowed trading with them on Penghu and that China not trade with Manila.[21] In response, the Chinese governor of Fujian demanded that the Dutch withdraw from Penghu to Taiwan, where the Chinese would permit them to engage in trade.[22][23] The Dutch continued to raid the Fujian coast between October 1622 and January 1624 to force their demands, but were unsuccessful.[24] In 1624, the new governor of Fujian sent a fleet of 40–50 warships with 5,000 troops to Penghu and expelled the Dutch, who moved to Fort Zeelandia on Taiwan.[25][26]

Map of Penghu, 1752

For a period in the mid-17th century, Taiwan and the archipelago were ruled by the Kingdom of Tungning under the Zheng family, which was overthrown by the Qing dynasty in 1683 after the Battle of Penghu. Military personnel were stationed on Penghu afterwards. Penghu became a sub-prefecture of Taiwan Prefecture, Fujian Province, during the Qing period.[27]

The Penghu archipelago was captured by the French in March 1885, in the closing weeks of the Sino-French War, and evacuated four months later. The Pescadores Campaign was the last campaign of Admiral Amédée Courbet, whose naval victories during the war had made him a national hero in France. Courbet was among several French soldiers and sailors who succumbed to cholera during the French occupation of Penghu. He died aboard his flagship Bayard in Makung harbour on 11 June 1885.[28]

Hōko Prefecture Government building

Towards the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, having defeated the Qing in northern China, Japan sought to ensure that it obtained Penghu and Taiwan in the final settlement. In March 1895, the Japanese defeated the Chinese garrison on the islands and occupied Makung. The Japanese occupation of Penghu, with its fine harbor, gave the Imperial Japanese Navy an advanced base from which their short-range coal-burning ships could control the Taiwan Straits and thus prevent more Chinese troops from being sent to Taiwan. This action persuaded the Chinese negotiators at Shimonoseki that Japan was determined to annex Taiwan, and, after Penghu, Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula had been ceded to Japan in the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki in April, helped to ensure the success of the Japanese invasion of Taiwan in May.[29]

Penghu County was then called the Hōko Prefecture by the Japanese government of Taiwan. During World War II, Makō (Makung) was a major base for the Imperial Japanese Navy and the embarkation point for the invasion of the Philippines.

The Pescadores (1950)

In the Cairo Declaration of 1943, the United States, the United Kingdom and China stated it to be their purpose that "all the territories that Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Formosa and The Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China". On 26 July 1945, the three governments issued the Potsdam Declaration, declaring that "the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out". However, the United States and the United Kingdom have regarded the aforementioned documents as merely wartime statements of intention with no binding force in law.[30]

Following the surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers Douglas MacArthur issued General Order No. 1, which directed Japanese forces to surrender to the Allied Powers and facilitate the occupation of Japanese territories by the Allied Powers. The Office of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers ordered Japanese forces in China and Taiwan to surrender to Chiang Kai-shek, who the Allied Powers delegated to accept the surrender. On 25 October 1945, Governor-General Rikichi Andō handed over the administration of Taiwan and the Penghu islands to the head of the Taiwan Investigation Commission, Chen Yi.[31][32]

The Republic of China and Japan signed the Treaty of Taipei on April 28, 1952, and the treaty came into force on August 5, which is considered by some as giving a legal support to the Republic of China's claim to Taiwan as "de jure" territory. The treaty stipulates that all treaties, conventions, and agreements between China and Japan prior to 9 December 1941 were null and void, which according to Hungdah Chiu, abolishes the Treaty of Shimonoseki ceding Taiwan to Japan. In the 1956 Japan v. Lai Chin Jung case, it was stated that Taiwan and the Penghu islands came to belong to the ROC on the date the Treaty of Taipei came into force.[32]

However, in 1954, the United States denied that the sovereignty over Taiwan and the Penghu islands had been settled by the Treaty of Taipei.[33] In the following year, the United States also stated its position that Taiwan and Penghu were handed over to the Allied Powers, and that the Republic of China was merely asked to administer these territories for the Allied Powers pending a final decision as to their ownership. [34] In the 1960 Sheng v. Rogers case, it was stated that, in the view of the U.S. State Department, no agreement has purported to transfer the sovereignty of Taiwan to the ROC, though it accepted the exercise of Chinese authority over Taiwan and recognized the Government of the Republic of China as the legal government of China at the time.[35]

Boat people fleeing Vietnam in the 1970s and 1980s who were rescued by Taiwan's ships in the South China Sea were sent to Penghu.[36]

On 25 May 2002, China Airlines Flight 611, a Boeing 747-200 aircraft flying from Taipei to Hong Kong, disintegrated and exploded over the Islands. The wreckage slammed into the Taiwan Strait, a couple of miles off the coast. All 225 passengers and crew on board were killed.[37]

Majority of the populace (72%+) in Penghu are descendents from Tong'an county.[16]

In Penghu, the native language is Taiwanese Hokkien, with Tong'an dialect being the most prevalent speech.[40]

Subdivisions of Penghu County

Penghu County is divided into one city and five rural townships. It is further divided into 97 villages.[41] Like Lienchiang County, Penghu County has no urban townships. The county seat is located at Magong City where it houses the Penghu County Hall and Penghu County Council.

The main islands of Magong City/Huxi Township, Baisha Township, and Xiyu Township are the three most populous islands and are connected via bridges. Two shorter bridges connect Huxi and Baisha. The Penghu Great Bridge connecting Baisha and Xiyu is the longest bridge in Taiwan.

The county elects a single representative to the Legislative Yuan. In the 2016 Republic of China legislative election, this seat was won by the Democratic Progressive Party with 55.4% of the vote.[42]

Penghu is served by Penghu Airport in Magong City and Qimei Airport in Cimei Township. Both airports opened in 1977. Daily Air operates flights between Penghu to Kaohsiung.

The county has Magong Harbor and Longmen Jianshan Pier. Magong Harbor hosts ferry connections with Kaohsiung, Tainan, Chiayi and Kinmen.