（photo by Jimmy Lin）

Columnar basalt

The columnar basalt on Qimei Island offers the best evidence of Penghu’s geologic history. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)

Indian blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) in bloom near the foot of a basalt cliff above Nei’an Beach.

Oyster beds in the Caiyuan community of Penghu’s Magong. (photo by Jimmy Lin)

A woman of the Nanliao community takes advantage of low tide to gather seaweed from the reef.

Abandoned residences on Wang’an Island hint at the prosperity of a bygone era. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)

The mottled walls of dilapidated structures in the Nanliao community reveal traces of the coral stone from which they were made. (photo by Jimmy Lin)

The twin-heart stone fish weir off Qimei Island bears witness to the wisdom and resourcefulness of Penghu’s people.
 

If it is true that local differences in the character of the land lead to different sorts of people, then surely “tenacious” is the best adjective to describe the residents of Penghu.

Tens of millions of years ago Penghu rose from the water as a volcano in the seabed poured out magma. As the scalding lava gushed out into the cool ocean water, it formed basalt columns pointing skyward. Over the millennia, monsoon winds and ocean currents have sculpted the black crystalline rock here into a variety of shapes. The island’s rugged sea caves and waterfalls that pour over towering cliffs bear witness to those transformations.

Penghu’s earliest inhabitants somehow managed to find a way to survive in this hardscrabble environment. Today women still make good use of the resources at hand by gathering seaweed from the reefs at low tide. The weathered houses’ mottled walls show in places the coral stone from which they were made. The eyes peering out from the sun-darkened faces of local passersby express a fearless spirit.

Penghu is a paradise where man and nature coexist in harmony, where Indian blanket flowers cover the dunes in their loving embrace.