Once a wartime shelter carved from granite to protect supply boats from Chinese shelling, Taiwan’s Zhaishan Tunnel on Kinmen Island now echoes with music instead of artillery.
Built during the height of the Cold War to shelter supply boats from Chinese artillery shells, one of Taiwan’s most well-known wartime attractions echoed with a different sound: cellos and violins for the annual Kinmen Tunnel Music Festival https://t.co/jfXenrRKb1 pic.twitter.com/fAJ3TImH1Q
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 22, 2025
The 17th annual Kinmen Tunnel Music Festival transformed the Cold War relic into a concert hall last weekend, where audiences enjoyed classical pieces by Mozart and Beethoven alongside Taiwanese and Chinese folk tunes.
Musicians performed from boats gliding through the illuminated tunnel as about 1,200 visitors attended six sold-out shows. Festival art director and cellist Chang Chen-chieh said the performances symbolized “the preciousness of peace.”
Kinmen, once the frontline of cross-strait conflict, is now a major tourist attraction, though it still bears traces of its military past. Audience member Cheng Kai-hsiang described the event as “overwhelming,” blending echoes of music and oc
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