This Chinese New Year, I found myself at the border of Taiwan and Mainland China––a unique island geographically a part of the Chinese province of Fujian but officially managed by the Taiwanese government. I hopped around several cities near the Taiwan-China strait, including memorials in Xiamen and Quanzhou.
The Dadeng Island Battlefield Sightseeing Park is located on the mainland side (PRC) on Dadeng Island and is a former war zone but has been transformed into a “military education base” and sightseeing park. It houses what is described as the “world’s largest speaker,” a single military radio horn cast from lead and aluminum. This massive horn is nearly 5 meters (16.41 ft) long, weighs 1,588 kilograms, and has an effective sound transmission distance of 12 kilometers, allowing it to be heard clearly across the sea on Kinmen.
Historically, these artifacts represents a time when the Taiwan Strait was the most militarized place on earth. The device was carefully developed by researchers at Beijing’s Tsinghua University to fund the “psychological warfare” effort against Taiwan following the retreat of the Nationalist government to Taiwan in 1949. These devices were progressively built amidst several significant armed conflicts stemming from the unresolved Chinese Civil War between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan).
The loudspeakers served as a “Wall of Sound” intended to project ideological messages across the sea where physical borders could not be crossed. The primary goal was to turn enemy military personnel against their respective regimes and encourage them to defect. Stations like the Beishan Broadcasting Wall (built in 1967) and the Mashan Broadcasting Station blasted slogans, speeches, and threats toward the mainland.
As tensions softened in the late 1970s, the “horns” began playing popular music to captivate listeners with a sense of intimacy. The voice of Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng was famously broadcast to contrast the “strident tones” of revolutionary songs common in the PRC at the time.
Other devices included the “Nine-Headed Bird” loudspeakers. These were captured U.S. Navy equipment used by frontline teams to carry out mobile broadcasts, capable of projecting sound over 3,000 meters to reach enemy positions.
Within the speakers, blasted words personally drafted by Mao Zedong. On October 6, 1958, Mao drafted the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan”. On October 25, he drafted a second message further exposing “U.S. plots” and advising Chiang Kai-shek not to rely on the Americans.
The most frequently broadcasted message called on KMT troops to defect and rise in rebellion. Within a month, the station broadcast four major documents. Their tone was described as “righteous and powerful,” acting like “heavy artillery shells” aimed at the enemy’s heart to shatter U.S. intervention and encourage peace talks.
In various manifestos, broadcasters and journalists were named as the country’s “Second Artillery.” By using this term, the government was acknowledging that a single sentence could be as damaging as a bomb. It showed how seriously they took the power of communication. The message read “We are all Chinese. The best is peace.” It describes the fighting in Kinmen as “punitive.” The message also includes various rhetorical questions and reads almost like a poem while using a strong punchy tone and figurative details to heighten the message.
While sound delivered clear and intense propaganda across the strait for years, it also allowed individuals across the sea to hear and speak to each other. These giant horn artifacts revealed how both the PRC and ROC treated language as a strategic weapon during and after the Chinese Civil War.
The role of sonic communication is often overlooked in war. These devices show that the conflict between Taiwan and China was never just a military confrontation but back and forth dialogues over identity and narrative.
We can therefore re-assess the significance of Kinmen not just as merely a frontline battleground but a crucial corridor where separation and connection between both sides of the strait can co-exist.
Written by Julia Jiang
