Jinsha Village, Matsu

Nangan’s stone village closest to China, a bay of granite Min-Dong houses stepping up the hill from a curve of golden sand, named for the evening light on that sand. The bay opens southwest toward the Min River estuary and the Fujian coast, so the sun goes down over the sea with beached sampans, a painted seawall and the bunker at the beach entrance in the foreground. From the Jinren Trail above the village the whole settlement is the silhouette, roofs weighted with stones against the wind.

This is the quietest spot in the app: fewer than a hundred people live here, and the beach has no lighting beyond the village. From April to August the blue tears glow in the water on dark nights, which is the other reason people come. Spring fog cancels flights to Matsu often enough to plan a spare day. Add Matsu to the map and the whole archipelago shifts: this is 200 kilometers northwest of Taipei, on Fujian time for sunsets.