Also known as Chinguashi or Jinguashi Memorial: a granite memorial and plaque with text in both Chinese and English that states that the memorial was erected in memory of those that died at Kinkaseki and to honour the POWs held captive at all the camps in Formosa (Taiwan). The memorial stands on the actual POW camp site.

From 1942-1945, Taiwan (formerly Formosa), then a colony of Japan, had 14 POW camps around the island housing captured Allied soldiers. Located near the copper and gold mine at Jinguashi, the Kinkaseki POW Camp was the most notorious.

Prisoners were continually being brought from other camps and forced to work in the mines at depths Taiwanese miners refused to go. On starvation rations only, the men were forced to march daily up and over a high ridge and then ascend 831 steps to the entrance of the mine. From there, they went down from an altitude of 800 feet to below sea level. Carbide lamps were the only lighting, there was no ventilating system and no props in the shafts - rock falls were a daily occurrence. The temperatures at the lowest level ranged from 130 degrees F and down the steps there ran a stream of sulphurous, acid water. The prisoners had to bring out twenty four carts of copper ore per day for a four-man team, if that quota wasn't reached they were lined up and beaten. The guards took every opportunity to beat prisoners and lashed out for the most trivial of offences. Under such conditions, hundreds of POWs died and were buried in a nearby cemetery. Those who survived the war would continue to suffer from the torture, degradation and slow starvation they endured.

The site of the Kinkaseki POW Camp lay forgotten for many years after the end of the war until it was rediscovered in 1990. In 1997 a remembrance service was held and with the assistance of Taiwanese authorities and local residents, a memorial was established on the site. On 23 November 1997 the memorial was dedicated and commemorates more than 1,100 British Commonwealth and Allied prisoners of war who were interned in the Kinkaseki POW camp by the Japanese.

Summary of POW Camps and Related Sites on Formosa (Taiwan) with Satellite Images located at:

http://www.powtaiwan.org/The%20Camps/index.php

The Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society, located in Taiwan, instigated and arranged the memorial in conjunction with local authorities.

Three former POWs were present at the memorial's dedication service.

Chinguashi or Jinguashi, Taiwan.

Located in the village of Chinguashi, or Jinguashi in Taibei County, near Jiufen, Ruifang and Jilongon on the northeast coast of Taiwan.