How Kinmen in Taiwan Turned Me into a Travel Vlogger

In March 2023, I moved to Kinmen Island in Taiwan to live there permanently. I had visited the island a few years prior as a tourist and realized that simply sharing a few travel pictures would not do the job. Instead, I started a video documentation. In this blog, I want to share how Kinmen Island turned me into a travel vlogger. If you would like to know more about my story, you can read more about Ferdinand.

Fighting Fake News About Kinmen Island

Kinmen was the last battleground of the Chinese Civil War and experienced heavy artillery shelling for years (Read more about What is Kinmen Island?). Today, many former battlegrounds and the old military equipment are tourist attractions. Without the relevant context information, these locations are prone to create a wrong impression because Kinmen is now peaceful and a popular tourist destination.

Due to the ongoing threats from China, Kinmen’s proximity to Xiamen, and the demilitarized military equipment along the coast, there is a temptation to tell a story more focused on clickbaiting than facts. As it turns out, the online edition of the German magazine “Der Spiegel” could not resist and published an article containing incorrect information.

The editor called outdated demilitarized tanks “battle-ready” and stationed at hot frontlines. The report described actors demonstrating artillery drills in the Lions Fort in Kinmen as “soldiers on duty”, just some false claims. I contacted the editor then, but there was no interest in correcting the errors. Only after I reached out to the Federal State Media Authority (German: Landesmedienanstalt) and requested an investigation did the publisher agree to a correction, as you see in the screenshot.

Noting that Spiegel.de is among the top 30 most visited websites in Germany, they did exactly what I wanted to avoid: Creating a wrong image of Kinmen. Thus, I started my first playlist, the Kinmen Travel Tales. I am not objective, but I try to get all the facts together to build an informed opinion.

Do you wanna read the full story about How Kinmen in Taiwan Turned Me into a Travel Vlogger? Read the full article at travelingkunz.com/home/blog and see how my stories as a travel vlogger continues.