Rising up in Taiwan, I heard rather a lot about Kinmen. “We hope you loved your flight and we look ahead to serving you once more within the close to future. Thanks and goodbye.” Like most Taiwanese, I had by no means been to those islands so near China till I got here with my mother and father just a few years in the past. [GUNSHOT] [APPLAUSE] I knew that Kinmen had been the entrance line for Taiwan through the Chinese language Civil Conflict. However it was nonetheless a shock to see that China is actually proper there. [MUSIC PLAYING] I used to sing this music on a regular basis as a child. We have been taught that we Taiwanese have been Chinese language in exile. And at some point, with the assistance of america, we’d retake China and free the mainland from the evil communists. And Kinmen can be the launch pad. “About 100 miles throughout open water from Taiwan, Kinmen is surrounded on three sides by the mainland and has been steadily shelled by Crimson artillery. Kinmen can be a stopper within the Communist invasion bottle, enjoying a lot the identical position for Asia as Berlin does in Europe.” This was my father in 1968. When he drafted Kinmen for his obligatory navy service, my grandmother cried. She was afraid he would not come again alive. As I obtained older, politicians on TV stopped attempting to persuade us to take China again at any value. However the individuals of Kinmen have been nonetheless anticipated to defend Taiwan, although they’ve household and historical past simply throughout the divide. As for my household, like most ethnic Chinese language in Taiwan, now we have been right here for generations and haven’t any connection to China. As an alternative, my father dreamed of going to america, the place I’ve spent most of my grownup life till I moved again to Taipei just a few years in the past. After so a few years away, I am nonetheless determining my very own relationship with Taiwan and China. Kinmen connects Taiwan to China, but additionally retains them separate. Possibly that is why I am drawn to this place. I wish to make sense out of it. After we have been rising up, this channel of water was the sting of our universe, separating good from evil. Then at some point we have been instantly allowed to go over to the opposite facet. And all it took was a half hour ferry experience. On my very first journey to China, I used my Taiwanese nationwide allow. It is mainly a separate passport issued by the Chinese language authorities – the identical authorities that considers my Taiwanese passport unlawful. However once I began working in China, it was really simpler to journey with my US passport. The China I noticed was not the unhappy and scary communist wasteland that I discovered about in class. It was an thrilling place, bursting with shade and prospects. [CHEERING] I wished to be part of it with no matter passport I wanted. I used to be final in China in 2018. I had a tough time getting a movie I made to go by means of the censors so we might present it there. Then got here China’s suppression of Hong Kong. And the pandemic closed every part, together with the Kinmen ferry, in 2020. I am unsure I will be going to China once more anytime quickly. When Covid broke out, I moved again to Taipei after a long time within the US. I’ve spent extra time with my mother and father within the final three years than within the final 30 years mixed. This place appears like house once more, though I am unable to assist however surprise how lengthy it can final. I’ve cut up the final 15 years of my life between Taiwan, China, and the U.S. An increasing number of, I really feel like a toddler whose mother and father are concerned in a three-way custody battle—hostile, codependent, manipulative, every pair with their very own dysfunctions. All of them suppose they know what’s greatest for me. They do not care what I would like. Many in Kinmen consider that China won’t ever assault Taiwan and america ought to cease interfering. We shall be reunited peacefully, they stated, as a result of in spite of everything we’re all one huge household. At dinner just lately, my mom casually jogged my memory that I ought to have a plan if China invades – that they intend to remain in Taiwan. We’re getting too outdated to go, she informed me. “Hey Hey hey.” [GUNSHOTS] Beginning in 2024, Taiwanese navy service shall be prolonged to at least one yr for all eligible males. When these younger males arrive in Kinmen, they are going to be shocked, as I’m, by the peaceable sunsets – the identical ones my father will need to have seen when he served right here all these years in the past – and by the kindness of the individuals right here, without end trapped between? [PIANO MUSIC]