The windswept Pescadores — basalt sea stacks, windsurfing world cups, and Taiwan's oldest temple
Penghu is an archipelago of 90 islands in the Taiwan Strait, midway between Taiwan and China, whose basalt columns, emerald-green water, and relentless summer winds have shaped one of Taiwan's most distinctive regions. The main island's Magong City holds Taiwan's oldest Matsu temple (1604) and Dutch-built fortifications, while the outer islands offer world-class windsurfing and kitesurfing — Penghu hosts the PWA World Windsurfing Championship each July. The island specialty is a bowl of thin, fresh seafood noodles eaten with a spoon, and oyster omelettes are everywhere.
Penghu was known to the Dutch as the Pescadores (Portuguese for fishermen), who built Fort Provincia here in 1622 to control Taiwan Strait trade. The Ming Dynasty retook it in 1624, the Qing held it for 200 years, then Japan took it in 1895 under the Treaty of Shimonoseki — the first territory Japan acquired from China. It saw brief battle in the 1950s Taiwan Strait crises but remained under ROC control. The basalt geology is 8–17 million years old and includes some of East Asia's most dramatic sea-cliff columns.