# Peikantang
## English
### Etymology

From Mandarin 北竿塘, Wade–Giles romanization: Pei³-kan¹-tʻang².

### Proper noun

Peikantang
* Synonym of Beigan (island)
** 1954 September 30, “Nationalist Forces Rout 40 Red Boats”, in The Washington Post and Times Herald‎, volume 77, number 299, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2:A Defense Ministry communique said 40 Communist craft were sighted Tuesday off Peikantang, a tiny island in the Matsu group, but fled when the island's guns opened fire. The Matsus are off the Red port of Foochow, opposite the northern tip of Formosa.
** 1955 March 30, Fred Hampton, “Red Attack Being Awaited on Matsu Isle”, in The Gettysburg Times‎, volume 53, number 76, Gettysburg, PA, →OCLC, page 12, column 2; republished as Matsu Chief Sees Attack At Any Time‎, volume 76, number 134, East Liverpool, Ohio: East Liverpool Review, 1955 March 30, page 1, column 4:The Reds may not be able to take Matsu but the lesser islands of Kaoteng or Peikantang seem less strong and their loss would put Matsu under artillery fire, making it hard to hold and even harder to supply.
** 1958 August 11 [1958 August 8], “Matsu is Hell on Earth for People, Army”, in Daily Report: Foreign Radio Broadcasts‎, volume 155, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, →OCLC, page AAA 18:In addition to the establishment of many army houses of prostitution at Peikantang to enable Chiang officers and men to victimize the wives and daughters of many deceased Chiang officers, and women from Taiwan who were forced to engage in prostitution, the Defense Ministry of the Chiang clique has also deceived a number of young women into joining a so-called "young women's service team," asking them to call upon combat units and pillboxes of the Chiang forces to sing reactionary and lewd songs for them.
** 1959 May 18, “Red Chinese Open Firing on Matsus”, in The Washington Post and Times Herald‎, volume 82, number 164, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 5:The Nationalist Defense Ministry claimed Communist guns on the mainland coast were silenced by effective counterfire. By Nationalist count, the Reds fired 444 shells, of which 162 hit Matsu Island, 112 Peikantang Island and 170 landed in the sea.
** 1959 July 1, “Chronology”, in Taiwan Today‎, archived from the original on 2021-01-20:Following the sporadic shelling launched against Peikantang on May 11, the Communist artillery units opposite Matsu fired again today a total of more than four hundred shells at Nankantang and Peikantang within one and a half hours, according to a communique issued by the Ministry of National Defense.
** [1962, Publications‎, number 94, United States Hydrographic Office, →OCLC, page 228, column 2:Chiao Shih, 44 feet high, lies about 1/2 mile southeastward of Ko-li, a 199-foot islet, that lies close off the south end of Pei-kan-t’ang Tao and is connected to it by a stoney spit.]
** 1974 August 19 [1974 August 17], “Matsu Fishermen Rescued; Arrangements Being Made for Return”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China‎, volume I, number 161, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, →ISSN, →OCLC, page E 2:"Kuanghua 6042", a fishing boat from Chiaotzu village of Peikantang on the Kuomintang-occupied Matsu Island of Fukien Province, sank near Heiyen Island after it developed engine trouble and struck a hidden reef while fishing on the afternoon of August 13.
** 2007, Jane Kilpatrick, “The first collector”, in Gifts from the Gardens of China: The Introduction of Traditional Chinese Garden Plants to Britain 1698-1862‎, Frances Lincoln Limited, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 41:At the end of August Eaton anchored at a group of three small islands off the coast of Fujian to take on fresh water, as the casks had not been refilled since leaving the Cape in April. Cuninghame calls these islands the Crocodile Islands, but he says the Chinese call them the ‘Pek-kin Islands’. These are the Matsu Islands, north east of Fuzhou, one of which is called Peikantang or Peikan Island.
** [2014 March, “A Folder for a Complete Backpacking Trip of Matsu”, in Lin Jahn-Chang, editor, Matsu National Scenic Area Administration‎, archived from the original on 6 June 2023‎:Beigan was called “Beigantang” or “Changqi Island” in the early years. It is the second-largest island in Matsu, with the terrain that rises and falls sharply.]
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Peikantang.

### References

* ↑ Blunden, Caroline (1998) “Gazetteer”, in Cultural Atlas of China‎, Revised edition, Facts on File, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 232: “Names in italics represent the Wade-Giles equivalent of the preceding Pinyin transcription. […] Beigantang (isl)/Pei-kan-t'ang (Taiwan)”