Members of the Huang clan on Tuesday celebrated the completion of a decade-long project to renovate their historic estate, the Huang Clan Family Mansion (黃家古厝) in Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District (林園).
Huang Wen-nan (黃文男), president of the Association for the Maintenance of the Huang Clan’s Family Mansion, declared the historic structure open to visitors, saying that the association hopes the mansion would contribute to tourism in Kaohsiung.
About 500 people attended the ceremony as they gathered in the mansion’s rice-threshing ground, which is the second-largest such area in a traditional compound in Taiwan, and performed traditional rituals of tomb-sweeping and ancestor veneration.
Photo: Hung Chen-hung, Taipei Times
The estate, built in 1834 by a branch of the Huang clan known as “the Huangs from Jiangxia with 10,000 households,” (江夏萬戶黃) was listed as a historical site by the Ministry of Culture 10 years ago, and works to repair typhoon and termite damage began the same year.
Budget allocation for the residence’s renovation was divided among the Ministry of Culture, the Kaohsiung City Government and the clan, with the ministry shouldering 70 percent of the costs, the city government 20 percent and the Huangs 10 percent.
The clan, a large and prominent family to which many of Taiwan’s township mayors and county councilors can trace their origins, quickly raised funds by calling on its members for money the traditional method of apportioning each household in accordance to its number of adult males.
Huang Wen-ming (黃文明), eight-term village warden in Fushan (富山) in Taitung’s Beinan Township (卑南), said he brought his family to the event because he felt an urge to visit his father’s childhood home and to connect with his kin.
His recollection of the estate from his childhood is hazy, but he plans on visiting the compound regularly, he added.
Huang Chun-cheng (黃俊成), who was born in the residence, said he donated his mother’s dowry from 80 years ago — a set of antique wooden furniture — to the mansion for display.
“The building’s interior has changed, but the renovated exterior looks precisely as I remember it. It brings back memories,” Huang Chung-cheng said.
Huang Chien-chun (黃健君) said that according to his research, the clan migrated from China in 1737, the second year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign during the Qin Dynasty, and the mansion was built in the traditional layout of typical clan compounds in Zhangzhou in China’s Fujian Province.
The protrusion on the roof known as the “ridged swallowtail” indicates that at least one member of the clan had attained the prestigious rank of Jinshih (進士) in imperial examinations, Huang Chien-chun said.
The 5 hectares of the estate had remained mostly unchanged and the tomb of the fourth-generation patriarch that laid outside the estate is 300 years old, he added.
Some clan members continue to reside in Linyuan, including Huang Chao-cheng (黃兆呈) and Huang Shun-cheng (黃順成), who were respectively a former Linyuan Township mayor and a former Kaohsiung county councilor, from before Kaohsiung’s administrative upgrade.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS