Quemoy << kih MOY >> is the name of a group of islands about 5 miles (8 kilometers) off the coast of China, in the Taiwan Strait. Quemoy is also the name of the largest island in the group. The Chinese call this island Kinmen, also spelled Jinmen.
The Quemoy islands have a population of about 139,000 and an area of 59 square miles (152 square kilometers). The Chinese Nationalist government continued to control the islands after the Chinese Communists conquered mainland China in 1949. The Chinese Communists bombarded the islands with artillery fire in 1954 and 1958. Occasional shelling, first with explosive shells and then in the 1970’s with shells that dropped propaganda leaflets, continued until an official cease-fire was announced in 1979.
