Introduction
This fonds is the family documents of Retired Professor Kuo-chun Li of the Department of Chinese Literature at National Central University, contents of which include 70 contracts and related documents as well as 35 photographs (105 items in total). The Li family originally resided in Guningtou, Kinmen, but relocated to Jincheng, Kinmen, after their estate was damaged during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1958. Donated documents are predominantly contracts, some of which remarkably stretch from 1806 to 1940, including those of their ancestral estate as well as—following their move to Jincheng—loan registers and the deeds of farm fields, oyster farms, and other properties. In addition, owing to Kinmen’s unique geographical location, including serving as the frontline of cross-strait confrontation, many residents migrated to Southeast Asia in search of livelihood. Prof. Li’s father and others of his generation, for example, traveled to the Philippines, Vietnam, etc. for business ventures due to economic necessity or wartime circumstances. Family photographs preserve traces of their overseas lives. This fonds thus provides invaluable historical materials for understanding settlement patterns inn Kinmen, overseas Chinese migrations, and wartime experiences through family archives. Following their digitization, the original documents have been returned to the family with the Archives preserving the electronic files.