The island of Kinmen, however, is only a short ferry ride away.
Tanks and barricades face the skyscrapers of the Chinese city of Xiamen on the horizon.
Kinmen is seen in Taiwan as its furthest outpost of democracy, as well as a symbolically-important constituency, which attracts visits from the leadership of all Taiwan's major political parties.
As those campaign efforts pick up ahead of Taiwan's presidential election this week, residents of the island, which relies heavily on spending by Chinese tourists, are wondering how their vote will impact relations with Beijing, and, in turn, the future of Kinmen.
Kang Bi-Guan is the third-generation owner of a stall that sells fishballs, a common street food snack.
"We hope that during the upcoming elections, the Taiwanese government will consider future developments of Kinmen. We need a stream of people to have a stream of money. Otherwise for us vendors, including the next generation, we can foresee a lot of hardships."
Taiwan has controlled Kinmen since 1949- when the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taipei after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists.
Bombarded by hundreds of thousands of shells over decades, the frontline island earned a reputation as the "protector" of Taiwan.
However over the years, both sides of the water that divides it from mainland China have enjoyed close economic ties.
Many families have relatives in both places.
The establishment of a 30-minute ferry service in the early 2000s transformed the island into a popular shopping destination for Chinese tourists.
Now, both Beijing and Taiwanese opposition party candidates, are calling for a bridge between Xiamen and Kinmen, which has divided opinion on the island.
"All Chinese share the same roots, so a lot of their life habits and much more are very similar. So if we could have a bridge to create a link, just like the bridge between Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao, to become a link for communication between the two sides, we would be able to become an even closer community in our daily lives."
While the majority on the island support closer ties, a growing subset of young residents identify more as Taiwanese than Chinese.
They want a democratic Kinmen that embraces its own culture, and relies less on China.
Coffee roastery owner Yuan Zeng-Jia is one of them.
"My dream is to use my coffee to bring some of Kinmen's culture and specialties to the world. I think we can create a Kinmen coffee brand so that people can learn more about Kinmen."
"We can indeed move our market to Southeast Asia, Europe and the U.S., meaning Taiwan's market will not only be in China. Taiwan should look to the whole world and not only focus on China."
In the run-up to the January 13th election, billboards for Taiwan's ruling DPP party and opposition Kuomintang party alike have sprung up around Kinmen.
But for some, like bookstore owner Weng Yu-wen, voting along party lines matters less than a candidates' vision for the island's future.
"If the Communist Party wants to attack you, they will not care if you are the KMT or the DPP. This is how I see it. So based on this, I tend to vote for the candidate of a party that does not want to get closer with China. But if today the party that doesn't propose closer ties with China puts forward a candidate without their own ideas, values or blueprint for the future, then I might gravitate towards not voting at all."
