Troubled Seas
Sweat, Tears, & the Sea
An ongoing story about Taiwan’s complicated and often troubled relationship with the sea that surrounds this small island—home to a population largely descended from Chinese refugees. Beyond fierce typhoons to the east lies an American lifeline across the vast Pacific Ocean; to the west, the looming presence of Chinese forces. Today’s young Taiwanese face a question their parents and grandparents long tried to avoid: press forward toward American allies, or turn back toward reunification with a rising communist superpower?
In the east, a growing surf culture embraces the ocean and American influence. In the west, abandoned fishing villages along the Taiwan Strait stand as silent reminders of a harsher, more uncertain relationship with the sea. My journey retraced my father’s migration to his hometown of Wuqiu—a tiny military island just off China’s coast—where my grandparents, once fishermen, landed after fleeing the communist revolution.
The Wuqiu Islands sit not just at China’s doorstep, but on the frontline of what could be the next major global conflict. During the 1996 missile crisis, they were identified as the first target of a potential Chinese strike. Yet the islands remain unknown to most Taiwanese, let alone the world. Remote and often dismissed as irrelevant, Wuqiu’s rural community lives at the very forefront of the tensions between Taiwan and mainland China—caught between the tides of history, identity, and survival.
