The population includes some 12,000 soldiers. Most residents were poor until 1992 when the government ended Kinmen's status as a military zone, relaxing restrictions on islanders bartering goods with their counterparts in Fujian, and allowing tourists to visit. Since then the islands have prospered. But Kinmen remains a key strategic territory for Taiwan. Major islands in the group remain heavily fortified with most soldiers hiding in underground concrete bunkers that snake for miles underneath the surface.
Many beaches are still mined.
Though the young men are all muscular from months of training, they clearly do not need to be as mentally tough as their predecessors a decade ago. Until 1987, frogmen were required to pass a graduation test before being sent off to underwater reconnaissance duties elsewhere in Taiwan. Those who passed the test typically brought back severed hands, ears, noses and penises. Those without a token were sent again and again until they succeeded in acquiring a freshly cut body part. Some infiltrators, of course, never returned.