After hearing about all of the Wind Lions on Big Kinmen for several months, I talked with my co-teacher Charlotte Hung and 2nd grade teacher Avia Chao at my school 上岐. They told me that there used to be some sort of prize for people who visited all of the Wind Lions on the island. I had read a little about the "competition" on the Internet back in July 2013, but no one on Kinmen ever mentioned it. I figured that the competition either stopped or the website was wrong.
Now, it turns about that people still explore Kinmen trying to find all of the Wind Lions as a hobby. It sounded fun and a nice way to see new parts of the island, so I decided to start "hunting" for as many Wind Lions as possible before I left in July. On weekends, with my map in hand, I'd hop on my scooter and try to locate as many statues as time or patience would allow. I found all of the Wind Lions in Jincheng and Jinning rather quickly in just one weekend. However, I was warned that the hard part was in Shamei because a large percentage of the Wind Lions were located in that township due to the northeast wind. I did not know that Shamei was the windiest part of the island, and, therefore, it needed the most protection.
My first outing in Shamei proved to be the most frustrating because several of the statues are located in people's yards, inside walls, or even on rooftops. I only expected them to be placed in weird positions-I did not think that some would be miniscule in size or so deteriorated from erosion that they are barely noticeable. I didn't give up. With the help of locals and my limited Chinese-"風獅爺在哪裡？"-I located some of the more difficult ones to find in the small villages. The most difficult one to locate turned out to be an embarrassing example of lack of attention on my part. I drove by the statue several times, but never turned my head in the right direction. After 45 minutes of searching, I found it waiting for me out in the open.
After a couple of weeks of "hunting" Wind Lions, my co-teacher Charlotte Hung told me that the map and book I used as a reference were outdated and that there were really over 100 statues, not 70-something. My heart dropped because I knew that I wouldn't have enough time to find them all-how could I find a statue that was not on a map？ I did not give up because this newfound hobby showed me new parts of Kinmen. I began to understand the layout of villages and where the statues would most likely be found within one. I'll never get to see them all, but the journey is definitely worth taking.