Definition of "Quemoy"
Quemoy
proper noun
Quotations
It would be however a very acceptable thing if ſome curious Navigators would inform us, what tides or Currents are found at Macao, Quemoy, and other places on the Coast of China and on Formoſa ; it being moſt probable that this flood cometh out of the North Eaſt, alongſt the Coaſt of China, for that the Northerly Moonsoon is found to occaſion the higheſt ſpring-tides.
1684, Edm. Halley, “A Theory of the Tides at the Bar of Tunking”, in Philosophical Transactions, volume XIV, Oxford, page 687
On the aſſurances, therefore, given them by Mr. Borel, their embaſſador to the emperor, they fitted out a great fleet of ſeventeen ſail of large ſhips, under the command of Balthaſar Borth, with orders to join the Tartars, and to act with the utmoſt vigour againſt Coxenga. On his arrival on the coaſt of China he found that conqueror in poſſeſſion of the iſland of Quemoy, which the Tartars, with all their force, were not able to take from him.
1759, The Modern Part of an Univerſal Hiſtory, volume X, London, page 366
The smaller of the two principal islands in this extensive bay, called Quemoy, is situated in lat. 24° 20' 30" north, lon. 118° 16' 30" east. It is to the eastward of Amoy, and forms the southwestern side of another harbor, (having the mainland to the north and northeast of it,) which is called the bay or harbor of Kinmun, Kimmoon, or Quemoy. The bay of Leaoulo, a small bay on the eastern side of Quemoy island, affords shelter from southwest winds.Chimmo, Yungning, or Engleng bay is separated from Quemoy by a peninsula of from four to seven miles in breadth.
1837 May, “Coast of China: the division of it into four portions ; brief description of the principal places on the southeastern, eastern, and northeastern portions.”, in The Chinese Repository, volume VI, number 1, Canton, page 12
Islands. - Rocky and bare, they are nearly all inhabited by fishermen whose boats go far out to sea. The most important is the island of Amoy, though it is not the largest. The Samsa or Sansha 三沙 group, including the upper 上三都 (shangsantu) and lower 下三部 (hsiasantu) islets, Hait'an 海壇 island, Quemoy or Kinmên 金門 (golden harbour) island, T'ungshan 銅山, and White dog island, are largest.
1908, M. Kennelly, transl., Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire and Dependencies, Shanghai: T'usewei Press, pages 277-278
It is as certain as can be that the shooting which the Chinese Communists started on August 23, had as its purpose not just the taking of the island of Quemoy. It is part of what is intended, is indeed, an ambitious plan of armed conquest.
1958, President Dwight Eisenhower, 0:49 from the start, in President Eisenhower Speaks On The Formosa Situation (1958), British Pathé
Now I think as far as Quemoy and Matsu are concerned, that the question is not these two little pieces of real estate- they are unimportant. It isn't the few people who live on them- they are not too important. It's the principle involved. These two islands are in the area of freedom. The Nationalists have these two islands. We should not force our Nationalist allies to get off of them and give them to the Communists. If we do that, we start a chain reaction, because the Communists aren't after Quemoy and Matsu, they're after Formosa. In my opinion, this is the same kind of woolly thinking that lead to disaster for America in Korea, I'm against it, I would never tolerate it as President of the United States, and I will hope that Senator Kennedy will change his mind if he should be elected.
1960, 54:09 from the start, in OCTOBER 7, 1960 Presidential Candidates Debate, US Vice President Richard M. Nixon (actor), C-SPAN
If they dare to start any military action against the Republic of China, it would start a new political crisis on the mainland. You may recall what happened in 1958 at the time of the Chinese Communist bombardment of the offshore island of Quemoy. They never even tried to invade the island, but it still caused some internal political trouble on the mainland. Peng Teh-huai was removed from office because of some differing policy assessments.
1979 May 27, President Chiang Ching-kuo, “Anti-Communist actions escalate”, in Free China Weekly, volume XX, number 20, Taipei, page 2
Quemoy, TaiwanIN A CRAMPED WORKSHIP just a few miles off the coast of China, Wu Zen-tung takes an old bomb fragment and within minutes has hammered it into a sleek kitchen knife. The bomb dates from 1958, when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces managed to hold onto Quemoy, the little Taiwanese outpost that would become an issue in the 1960 presidential election....Chinese Communist forces dropped some 474,910 bombs over those 44 days, and they would continue to shell Quemoy every other day for the next 20 years, right up until the U.S. recognized Beijing on New Year's Day 1979.. .The lack of anxiety in Quemoy illustrates the dramatic shift in Taiwan's strengths and vulnerabilities. In the bad old days, with Chiang and Mao duking it out for control, the defense of Quemoy became a focal point of the "who's tougher on Communism" debates of the Nixon-Kennedy presidential race.
1995 October 16, William McGurn, “A Cool Hot Spot”, in The Weekly Standard, volume 1, number 5, pages 22–23
In view of the sum-up report from the e-media in the island, during the meeting convened by the county "congress" on May 28 some "congress members" put forward a provisional motion concerning the prevention and protection against the SARS. It suggested to make efforts for getting hold of the negative pressure isolation ambulance donated by the Chinese motherland to Chinmen (Quemoy), which won the support from the majority of the "congress members".
2003 May 30, “Chinmen Willing to Accept Donations From Chinese Motherland”, in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, archived from the original on 24 September 2022
'Swimming across the sea to Quemoy was not difficult at all,' said Li Yenhan, 22, from Tianjin , who was the first mainlander ashore. 'There were some sea currents near Binlang islet [held by Taiwan], but after that it was an easy swim.'
2009 August 15, Lawrence Chung, “Historic swim heralds warming strait relations”, in South China Morning Post, archived from the original on 02 August 2021
I should add a story, you know in the South at that time, Governor Barnett was sort of known as a bit of a dim bulb. And two years before, during the presidential campaign, one of the flashpoints in the debates that fall involved two Nationalist Chinese islands just off the coast of China: Quemoy and Matsu. And right after this argument erupted in the campaign, Ross Barnett was out politicking one day and the reporters asked him, "Governor, what about Quemoy and Matsu?" And he looked around sort of lost and said to one of his aides, "Them those two fellers I put on the Fishing and Game Commission last year?"
2012, 42:09 from the start, in Listening In: JFK's Secret Tapes, Thomas Oliphant (actor), John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
In August 1958, party elites headed by Mao made two key decisions during an expanded meeting of the party’s Politburo held in the resort: building people’s communes in rural areas across the nation and the cannon bombardment of Quemoy, the Taiwan-controlled offshore island, also called Kinmen.
2018, Choi Chi-yuk, “Where China’s top leaders go in summer and in secret: a brief history of Beidaihe”, in South China Morning Post
“In 1996, Beijing included Tungyin as one of its 49 territorial island bases, and Taipei announced its territorial sea base points in 1999 to exclude the Quemoy and Matsu islands for the first time,” Lu explained.
2022 February 11, Minnie Chen, “Was it Beijing testing Taiwan’s defences with unidentified Matsu island flyover?”, in South China Morning Post, archived from the original on 11 February 2022, China Military