Tatan

See also: tatán and Tatán

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 大膽 (Dàdǎn) Wade–Giles romanization: Ta⁴-tan³.

Proper noun

Tatan

1. Alternative form of Dadan
   • [1843 March, “Narrative of the loss of the English brig Ann: and of the caputre of the whole, and the decapitation of forty-three of her crew, by the Chinese authorities in Formosa.”, in The Chinese Repository‎^[1], volume XII, number 3, Canton, →OCLC, page 123:

     Tátán.-Tátán 大担 is eight cables long, with a low sandy isthmus in the centre. The east end is the highest, (about 300 feet,) with a small circular watch-house and three chimneys on it. On the west side of the isthmus is a village. Between this island and the south end of Amoy, only one and a half fathoms were found ; soundings, however, were not obtained close in to the Amoy shore.]

   • 1958 September 12, “War in Asia: Reds to Push to Edge”, in U.S. News & World Report‎^[2], volume XLV, number 11, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34, column 2:

     Little Quemoy is a mountain of tunneled rock between the larger island and the mainland. Chief among the outer defenses of these two are the tiny Tan Islands—Tatan, Erhtan and a still-smaller islet. Control of the Tans, which may be the Chinese Reds first objective, would give them a means of tightening the blockade of the Quemoys still further.

   • 1958 December 1, “Theirs Is Not To Ask Why”, in Taiwan Today‎^[3], archived from the original on 2023-04-17:

     Tatan and Erhtan, two rocky outposts of Kinmen, are some nine miles southwest of Kinmen and within yelling distance of the Communist-held mainland. […]
     The story is at once thrilling and heart warming. Organized into teams of three men each, the unsung heroes would launch their supply-ladden small motorboat in the darkness of night and sail stealthily to the brink of the death trap, the surrounding waters of Tatan and Erhtan.

   • 1962, DeWitt S. Copp, The Odd Day‎^[4], William Morrow and Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page [5]:

     Ann Fong Lang and Shui Kong-lin, only women on Tatan Island, standing in the communications trench leading to their underground broadcasting studio.

   • 1975 October 26, “Propaganda behind commando release”, in 自由中國週報 [Free China Weekly]‎^[6], volume XVI, number 42, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, columns 2, 3:

     Sixty other former ASNA raiders, captured by the Communists while conducting commando activities on the mainland in the early 1960s, were released on the same day from Amoy to Tatan, an offshore island just off the mainland.

   • 2002 May 10, Shui-bian Chen, “President Chen's Remarks during His Stop on Tatan Island”, in Office of the President Republic of China (Taiwan)‎^[7], archived from the original on 23 August 2019:

     I visited Tatan Island for the first time when I was convener of the National Defense Committee of the Legislative Yuan, and it made a strong impression on me. Not long ago, I came to Tatan Island again to visit the capable and conscientious members of the armed forces stationed here. At that time, I told them "I'll be back!" This time I've not only returned, but I especially invited a group of media executives to join me, because I want to share my special feelings for Kinmen and Tatan Island with them.

   • 2009, Chi Su, “One country on each side”, in Taiwan's Relations with Mainland China: A tail wagging two dogs‎^[8], Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 170:

     In May 2002, Chen Shui-bian announced while on Tatan Island, a tiny offshore island near Kinmen, that if the government played a leading role, participated, and stepped in when necessary, the private sector could be granted the right to negotiate the three links.

   • 2015, Bruce A. Elleman, “The Two Chinas, the Offshore Islands, and the Korean War”, in Taiwan Straits: Crisis in Asia and the Role of the U.S. Navy‎^[9], Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 21:

     In 1950, in spite of naval and air inferiority, Communist forces succeeded in overwhelming the Nationalist base on Hainan Island from February to May, the Zhoushan Archipelago during May, and Tatan Island as late as July.

   • 2015 October 3, “金門還有巨蟒嗎? [Do giant snakes still live on Kinmen?]”, in Clare Lear, transl., Taipei Times‎^[10], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 October 2015, Bilingual Pages, page 11‎^[11]:

     Four years later, soldiers going through sweet potato fields suddenly heard a farm woman shouting “Big snake, big snake!” When they looked, it was a brown patterned python. Some people also saw pythons among the tombs, and in Tatan Island there were even rumors of horned snakes. All these folklore tales indicate that in the one hundred and fifty square kilometers of Kinmen Island, there were always pythons.

   • 2021, Bruce A. Elleman, Taiwan Straits Standoff: 70 Years of PRC-Taiwan Cross-Strait Tensions‎^[12], Anthem Press, →ISBN, →OCLC:

     Communist forces, in spite of naval and air inferiority, succeeded in overwhelming the Nationalist base on Hainan Island during February-May 1950, the Zhoushan Archipelago during May 1950, and Tatan Island as late as July 1950.

   • 2021 July 26, “The 68 Olympians representing Chinese Taipei, a country that doesn’t really exist”, in Fox Sports (Australia)‎^[13], archived from the original on 27 July 2021‎^[14]:

     The Republic of China flag flying over an abandoned army lookout on Dadan (Tatan) Island part of Kinmen county also known as Quemoy. In the background, China (PRC) controlled Xiamen city in Fujian Province is clearly visible just 4.4 km away. Dadan Island is officially part of Fujian Province. This is one of ROC (Taiwan)’s closest points to the PRC.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Tatan.