Peikan
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Etymology: From Mandarin 北竿 (Běigān), Wade–Giles romanization: Pei³-kan¹.
Senses: examples: text: The one landing strip in the Matsus, and good for light aircraft only, was on the second largest island, Peikan. Between Nankan and Peikan lay the Matsu Straits, a twisted riptide-torn channel, boasting freak winds and bouldered shores. It was on this seaway that amphibian aircraft landed, wind and sea permitting.
ref: 1962, DeWitt S. Copp, “The Mudcats”, in The Odd Day, William Morrow and Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 66:
text: A preliminary PLA attempt in late September to land forces on Peikan T'ang island (one of the Matsu group) was beaten back by the island's defenders and counterattacked by ROC bombers, which claimed to have sunk five motorised junks and damaged six others, out of a total fleet of forty to fifty.
ref: [1975, J. H. Kalicki, “First Taiwan Strait crisis, 1954-1955”, in The Pattern of Sino-American Crises: Political-Military Interactions in the 1950s, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 134–135:
text: Based on the variation diagrams (Figs. 1 and 10) and the occurrence of gabbroic rocks in Peikan, the author suggests that Matsu granite might have derived by differentiation from normal calc-alkali parent magma.
ref: 1986, 中國地質學會會刊 [Proceedings of the Geological Society of China], numbers 29-30, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 60:
english: Proceedings of the Geological Society of China
translation: Proceedings of the Geological Society of China
text: Mainland fishing boats that had disapperared^([sic – meaning disappeared]) for many days massed again on waters near Peikan, Matsu. Peikan residents pointed out that because mainland fishing boats had come too close, ROC [Republic of China] troops opened fire to disperse them; but the Peikan Headquarters said they knew nothing about the matter and believed fishermen were possibly using explosives to catch fish.
ref: 1996 March 27 [1996 March 25], “Taiwan: Mainland Fishing Boats 'Massing' Near Matsu”, in Daily Report: China, number 096-060, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Taipei China Broadcasting Corporation News Network, translation of original in Mandarin, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 89–90:
text: As Reece Overhalt spoke to the President, the first reports came in of China’s invasion of the Taiwanese island of Peikan, just off the coast of Fujian.
ref: 1997, Humphrey Hawksley, Simon Hoberton, chapter 7, in Dragon Strike: The Millennium War (Fiction), Sidgwick & Jackson, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 338:
text: The 7km journey by boat between Nankan and Peikan takes either 10 or 40 minutes depending on which vessel you take.
ref: 1998, Robert Storey, “Islands of the Taiwan Straits”, in Taiwan (Lonely Planet), 4th edition, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 321, column 2:
text: The airport on Peikan Island, the second largest in the Matsu chain, is currently being upgraded at a cost of NT$700 million (US$22.6 million).
ref: 2000 November 1, “The Last Shangri-la”, in Taiwan Today, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2022:
text: UNI Airways is the only airline running flights between Taipei and Matsu's two airports. The airline operates six flights from Taipei to Nankan and six flights from Nankan to Taipei daily, while running three flights from Taipei to Peikan and three flights from Peikan to Taipei per day.
ref: 2003 January 24, “Matsu's second airport inaugurated”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2022, Taiwan News, page 3:
text: During the meeting, the private association members also came up with many suggestions, including building a bridge linking Matsu island group's Nankan and Peikan islets, expanding its airport capacity, setting up an offshore shipment center, allowing Taiwan people to travel to mainland China via Matsu and building large tourist vessels to attract Taiwan tourists to Matsu.
ref: 2003 July 30, “President Chen Inspects the Matsu Defense Headquarters and Various Development Projects”, in Office of the President, Republic of China (Taiwan), archived from the original on 10 Sep 2022:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: The first mention of Matsu in the historical record involves an incident of piracy that took place in 1617. This was during the Ming Dynasty, when the seas around China were lousy with pirates. Pirate legends are still told in Chinpi, the most traditional village on Peikan Island.
ref: 2011 September 7, “Matsu Islands”, in GlobalSecurity.org, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2011:
text: For the massive granite (sample Ms01) from the Peikan Island, fifteen spots were analyzed from 15 zircons and give ages ranging between 87 ± 2 and 98 ± 2 Ma.
ref: 2017 December, Jing-Yuan Chen et al., “Ages and petrogenesis of Jurassic and Cretaceous intrusive rocks in the Matsu Islands: Implications for lower crust modification beneath southeastern China”, in Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, volume 150, Elsevier, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC:
text: There are currently two international airports: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at Taoyuan near Taipei, and Kaohsiung International in the south. In addition there are 14 domestic airports: Taipei, Hualien, Taitung, Taichung, Tainan, Chiayi, Pingtung, Makung, Chimei, Orchid Island, Green Island, Wangan, Kinmen and Matsu (Peikan). In 2010 Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport handled 25,114,418 passengers, up from 18,681,462 in 2000.
ref: 2019, “Taiwan”, in The Statesman’s Yearbook 2019, →DOI:
glosses: Alternative form of Beigan (island).