One hundred and fifty miles north of Quemoy on Nankan Island, it wasn't the sound of Communist artillery fire that awoke Lieutenant Colonel Carl Kueffer, but the persistent jangling of his telephone.[...]The one landing strip in the Matsus, and good for light aircraft only, was on the second largest island, Peikan. Between Nankan and Peikan lay the Matsu Straits, a twisted riptide-torn channel, boasting freak winds and bouldered shores.]
[1973 November 4, “Matsu is strong, prosperous”, in Free China Weekly[2], volume XIV, number 43, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:
There has been no attempt to mount an amphibious assault on Matsu, and with good reason. Nankan is almost straight up and down and nearly devoid of landing places. Embryo beaches are guarded by barbed wire and mines. Traffic in and out of Nankan is by landing boat and planking.]
While the main island and tourist centre Nangan has the greatest variety of attractions, the less crowded Beigan has the best beaches and examples of northern Fujian architecture. For their part, the hilly Dongyin and Siyin - which are connected by a causeway — feature the most striking topography, and the sister islands of Dongjyu and Sijyu are brimming with historic landmarks. In fair weather, they can easily be reached via ferries originating at Nangan, but you should allow at least a week if you want to visit all of them at a leisurely pace.[…] Although the entire archipelago is named "Matzu", locals and Taiwanese tourists routinely refer to the biggest, most visited island of Nangan as "Matzu" as well: according to legend, the Chinese goddess Mazu's dead body washed ashore on one of its beaches.
c.2010's, “Introduction to Matsu”, in Lienchiang County Council[4], archived from the original on 25 March 2015:
Most of Matsu consists of coned granite islands. The land is hilly and the slopes are steep. The highest mountain is Bi Mountain in Beigan at 294 meters above sea level. The highest mountain on Nangan is Yun-Tai Mountain at 248 meters. Both of them are now listed by the government among Taiwan's Minor 100 Mountains.
2021 June 8, Kelvin Chen, “Taiwan's Control Yuan investigates ecological impact of China's illegal sand dredging”, in Taiwan News[5], archived from the original on 08 June 2021:
The Control Yuan on Tuesday afternoon stated via a press release that it had accepted a video petition from the Lienchiang County Government to investigate, CNA reported. County Secretary-General Chang Lung-te (張龍德) said that in recent years, there have been hundreds of Chinese ships pumping sand in the area every day, and an increasing number of 4,000-ton ships have entered waters near Nangan, causing coastal erosion and ecological destruction to the seabed ecological system.
2022 March 24, Sarah Wu, “Ukraine war reverberates on Taiwan's 'frontline of democracy'”, in Gerry Doyle, editor, Reuters[6], archived from the original on 10 May 2022, 公司新闻(英文):
On the main island of Nangan, former military brothels and underground bunkers house exhibits that opened last month as part of the inaugural Matsu Biennial art festival.
