A concrete tunnel in Kinmen [file photo]

Five meters underground on the Taiwan Strait island of Kinmen, a dark concrete tunnel reverberates with sound of shelling.

But the noise of battle no longer drives the residents to their bomb shelters.

The sounds recreate the wartime footing that for long characterized relations between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland and now draws thousands of tourists from both sides of the Strait.

The tunnels, from a section of the civil defense facilities, have been converted into a museum, which gives visitors a vivid experience of the days after 1949 when the island was the frontline of the confrontation.

The museum's doorway is hidden beside the island's bus terminal. The main town looks so normal that it is hard to imagine it has a 9.5-km network of tunnels linking key government offices, the post office, school, bank, bus station and villages on the 132-square-km island.

"The tunnels were used to evacuate people. In addition, almost every household would have its own bomb shelter," says Huang Min-fang, a Kinmen native born in 1962, who grew up with the frequent shelling by both sides.

"Gradually people learned from the sound of the shells when it was time to retreat to the shelter."

The island maintained a large military garrison and a strict curfew until 1992. The buildings in the town were restricted to a height of three storeys. Lights-out was at 7 p.m..

"If we wanted to travel to the Taiwan Island, we had to go through a very complicated procedure of approval by the authorities, who feared infiltration," Huang says.