As Penghu’s peak travel season approaches, the volunteer team of the Penghu National Scenic Area Headquarters (Penghu NSA Headquarters) has been stationed at the Siyu East Fort Military Historic Park Visitor Service Station to help visitors gain a deeper understanding of Siyu’s military culture while providing timely and thoughtful travel assistance. Through roving volunteer-guided interpretation services, visitors are warmly welcomed to explore the site and experience Penghu’s rich military heritage through the warmth of local hospitality.
The Siyu East Fort Military Historic Park Visitor Service Station is located within the Dongchang Camp area. Operating for six months from April 1 through September 30, two volunteers per shift will be stationed there five days a week (Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Free guided tours are available for two military facilities, the East and West Fortifications, allowing visitors to explore Japanese-era artillery emplacements, underground tunnels, fortresses, and wartime barracks. The site offers rich historical and cultural interpretation as well as valuable tourism resources. Additional services include Wi-Fi access, visitor information, event promotion, and safety guidance.
Penghu NSA Headquarters noted that the Siyu East Fort Military Historic Park is one of Penghu’s most iconic wartime heritage attractions. By transforming the preservation value of historic architecture into renewed tourism and recreational value, the site continues to evolve as a distinctive destination. Visitors can also access the special opening of the East Fort’s Twin Gun Emplacements, offering a rare close-up view of historic U.S. Navy 5-inch naval guns. The attraction is jointly promoted alongside other military tourism highlights managed by the Penghu County Cultural Affairs Bureau, including a bunker-style cold ammunition depot and cavern-style ammunition depot with copper-lined walls (popularly known as the “Copper Wall, Iron Bastion”), helping further develop locally distinctive themed tourism in Penghu.

Military Heritage Highlights:
Siyu East Fort: Adjacent to the Siyu East Battery (also known as the Siyu East Fortification), this site once served as a station for the Tiger Brigade and was one of the fortress batteries of the Penghu Island Fortress during the Japanese colonial period. The camp features an L-shaped layout, containing guard posts built by the ROC Armed Forces, gate pillars erected by the Japanese military to control entry and exit, sentry quarters, an underground water storage facility, and tunnel-style Japanese air raid shelters.
Facing south toward the open waters of Penghu, the fort was designed as a four-gun coastal defense battery. Construction began on March 20, 1901 and was completed on March 28, 1903. The battery was armed with four coastal artillery guns, all repurposed British-made 12-inch Armstrong breech-loading guns captured and reused by the Japanese military, mounted on full-circle traversing platforms. Today, only the parapet walls, ammunition chambers, and gun emplacements remain as testimony to its former strength.
Twin Guns: After the ROC Armed Forces took over Siyu East Fort, the original Armstrong gun mounts were converted to support 105 mm howitzers, and the artillery access ramps were widened. Later, in 1977, a tunnel shelter descending 137 steps underground was excavated beneath the second side ammunition chamber below the gun platform. Two U.S.-made 5-inch naval guns, removed from decommissioned warships, were installed there for use as coastal artillery. This installation became known as the East Fort Twin Guns. The Twin Guns were designed to blockade the Magong Channel through ambush or direct-fire operations. With a firing range of 16.452 kilometers, they could cover nearly half of Penghu. Combined with a semi-automatic firing rate of up to 22 rounds per minute, they were regarded as the guardians of the Penghu Strait in their time.
Although the military has since withdrawn, the 5-inch naval guns remain well preserved. They stand not only as evidence of Penghu’s former defense system, but also as the most valuable military heritage asset of Siyu East Fort.
Siyu West Fort: Resembling a hidden military base, Siyu West Fort faces south from Yangshan (Goat Hill) overlooking Nei’an Bay. It was one of the fortress batteries of the Penghu Island Fortress during the Japanese colonial period. The coastal defense complex consists of three gun emplacements with six firing positions, arranged in a straight line. Each emplacement originally mounted two 280 mm howitzers. The site was also equipped with a searchlight chamber housing a 90-centimeter-diameter searchlight, along with two observation posts and command stations. The central gun emplacement was later converted into a turret battery.
Construction of Siyu West Fort began on April 25, 1903 and was completed on October 25, 1904. The battery also included shelters, barracks, latrines, and ammunition depots, making it the largest and most comprehensively equipped Japanese colonial-era artillery battery in the Siyu area.
Visitors enter the fort by passing through the former Dongchang Camp area and a long green corridor. Along the walk, panoramic views of Tongpan Island and Hujing Islandcan be enjoyed. Inside the fort, dense tree cover and lush foliage create a serene and secluded atmosphere, offering a tranquil retreat from the outside world.