Kinmen: Chen Kin-fu Gongtang Tourist Factory

[Assessment Validity Period: 2021/05/13~2024/05/12] Chen Kin-fu is centrally located on Kinmen, along the essential route between the airport and the pier. The Chen Kin-fu Gongtang Tourist Factory is imbued with the rich cultural essence of Kinmen's century-old gongtang shops and its battlefield heritage. It offers a glimpse into the gongtang production process, combines it with DIY gongtang making workshops, and provides storytelling tours that promote environmental education. Mr. Chen Kin-fu, the owner of Chen Kin-fu Store, has integrated traditional industry with modern business philosophies. He established a spacious and brightly lit retail area, creating Kinmen's first transparent gongtang production factory where the entire process is openly visible. Prioritizing customer satisfaction, tourists can observe the production on-site and enjoy free samples of freshly made gongtang. The factory also offers the convenient service of 'order on-site, pick up at the airport or pier.' This pioneering approach introduced 'customer experience and DIY storytelling guided tour services' as a unique feature in Kinmen's specialty industry, along with a 'burden-free' shopping environment, allowing visitors to 'travel with ease and shop with joy and satisfaction.' This has set a new trend for Kinmen's specialty industries. Everyone is welcome to visit! Chen Kin-fu, the owner of Chen Kin-fu Food Co., Ltd., operating under the brand 'Ming Ji - Chen Kin-fu Gongtang,' is the fourth son of Mr. Chen Shih-ming (known as 'Ming Shi'), the founder of Kinmen's gongtang. He is also the third-generation inheritor who has brought prosperity to the century-old brand 'Ming Ji Gongtang,' the 'Gongtang family,' earning him the media's praise as the 'Kinmen Gongtang Master.' The predecessor of 'Ming Ji Gongtang' was the 'Tailifa' pastry shop, founded by Zhang Ze, uncle of Chen Shih-ming (original name Zhang Ming), on Dongshan Island, Zhangzhou, mainland China, during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. The gongtang produced there was renowned far and wide. Chen Shih-ming inherited the ancestral gongtang craftsmanship and founded the 'Ming Ji' pastry shop (implying a famous family-inherited brand) in Tongshan in the third year of Xuantong (1911 AD), which became famous at the time. Later, due to the Anti-Japanese War, he relocated from Xiamen to Kinmen, settled there, and was adopted into the Chen family of Doumen, Jinsha Township, Kinmen. He re-established the 'Ming Ji' Gongtang factory in Nanmen Lane, Jincheng Township. In 1959, representing Kinmen, he participated in the 'First National Commodity Exhibition' and won the 'Best Excellent Product Award' for his handmade gongtang. Since then, Kinmen gongtang has become widely famous and has evolved to become a leader among Kinmen's specialty products. From a young age, Chen Kin-fu followed his father, learning the fundamentals of handmade candy and traditional Chinese pastries, fully inheriting the true craftsmanship. He successfully transformed the traditional pastry factory into a corporate entity, 'Chen Kin-fu Food Co., Ltd.,' and established the 'Ming Ji - Chen Kin-fu Gongtang' brand. In addition to preserving and adhering to ancestral traditional craftsmanship, he continuously strives for research and innovation. Beyond traditional gongtang flavors, he developed dozens of different flavors of gongtang and tea snacks, and also created health-focused product lines to satisfy modern people's varied taste preferences. It is Kinmen's most authentic, professional, and health-conscious gongtang brand, committed to customer service. In 2013, the company was honored with the 'Outstanding Century-Old Store' award by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.