evidence: In 1949, after two decades of civil war, the Chinese Communists under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong had driven out the Chinese Nationalists under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek from the Chinese mainland. Only the conquest of a series of islands in the Taiwan Strait – above all Taiwan island – stood between the Communists and an absolute victory. Taking Kinmen would provide a launching pad for further military campaigns in the strait. [...] "Kinmen was still a well-manned fortress, but there was an optimism in the air, a feeling that better times were coming," says Li. [...] Kinmen is also not without importance to Taiwan’s military. It is home to a string of surveillance stations that monitor activity in the surrounding sea.