1949年國民政府因國共內戰失利撤退台灣。國軍陸續進駐金門，金門一夕間成為捍衛台海安全基地與反共堡壘。金門防衛司令部司令胡璉將軍收到一瓶金門當地製作的高粱酒，他驚訝在南方小島居然喝到清香且喉韻十足的高粱烈酒。1952年金防部成立高粱酒廠。1950年代推出高粱換米政策，鼓勵農民種植高粱，以滿足生產高粱酒所需原料。在軍方與農民之間，米與高粱是禮物，而非商品。禮物經濟連結一套軍事化治理體系形成象徵暴力，亦即細緻委婉的統治模式，使被統治者不意識到強勢的統治手段。禮物經濟串連軍方與民眾的社會關係，使得後者視軍事化為日常生活的常態。

When the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT), dominated by Chiang Kai-shek, lost the civil war to the Chinese Communist Party and retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the island of Jinmen was assigned the role of shielding Taiwan from Communist attacks. The commander of the Jinmen Defense Headquarters (JDH), Hu Lian, received locally produced sorghum liquor as a gift. He was surprised by its quality and the aroma of the liquor pleased him. In 1952 JDH established a sorghum distillery. The military authorities in the 1950s began trading rice for sorghum—required in large quantities to make this type of liquor—in order to encourage the farmers to shift production. Rice and sorghum functioned more like gifts than commodities between the military and Jinmen’s farmers. The practice of gift exchange between the military and the dominated civilians helped naturalize the militarization of Jinmen’s society.