The Pingtung County Government on Wednesday certified two craftsmen who build ritual Wang Yeh boats as preservers of an intangible cultural heritage.
The craftsmen — Tsai Wen-hua (蔡文化) and Tsai Tsai-an (蔡財安) — are volunteer boatbuilders at the county’s Donglong Temple (東隆宮) in Donggang Township (東港).
Wang Yeh gods are guardian deities of war and pestilence.
Photo: CNA
Building boats for ceremonial burning as offerings to the gods is one of the most important and distinctive aspects of Wang Yeh worship, the Pingtung Cultural Affairs Bureau said.
Donglong Temple has for more than 200 years observed a boat-burning ritual every three years, the bureau said, adding that in 2010 it was recognized as a national heritage tradition.
Before 1973, the temple’s Wang Yeh boats were bamboo-and-paper miniatures, but since then the temple has constructed 13.6m-long wooden life-size boats, the bureau said.
Tsai Wen-hua, 56, from Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) is the chief of the temple’s ship design group and has worked on 13 Wang Yeh boats.
Before building Wang Yeh boats, he was a shipwright, a profession he entered by way of his uncle-in-law after he finished elementary school, Tsai Wen-hua said.
He apprenticed under his uncle-in-law at Donggang during the winter and went fishing in the seas near Siaoliouciou in summer until he was 30, when he started to build fishing boats on contract, he said.
In 1979, he became involved in Wang Yeh boatbuilding and eventually assumed the position of chief designer after mastering the whole process, he said.
Tsai Tsai-an, 60, a sailmaker, said he came from a family of Wang Yeh boat sailmakers and that his father had worked on seven or eight boats, while he has made sails for four.
“In my father’s day, outsiders were not allowed to see the building of Wang Yeh boats and the master craftsmen worked behind closed doors,” Tsai Tsai-an said.
“About two decades ago, the process was opened up and outsiders are now permitted to observe or take photographs of the boats, but it is still forbidden for them to get too close,” he said.
Wang Yeh boats are mostly built by volunteers and the craft has had trouble recruiting young people with the skills and interests to replenish its ranks, the craftsmen said.
It is their hope that their status as intangible cultural heritage preservers and the national cultural heritage status of the temple’s Wang Yeh boat rites could contribute to the custom’s preservation, they added.
Taiwan must first strengthen its own national defense to deter a potential invasion by China as cross-strait tensions continue to rise, multiple European lawmakers said on Friday. In a media interview in Taipei marking the conclusion of an eight-member European parliamentary delegation’s six-day visit to Taiwan, the lawmakers urged Taipei to remain vigilant and increase defense spending. “All those who claim they want to protect you actually want to conquer you,” Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could draw from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described the Kremlin as a “new fascist Nazi regime” that justified
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which stipulates that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican US Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude China from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China
‘T-DOME’: IBCS would increase Taiwan’s defense capabilities, enabling air defense units to use data from any sensor system and cut reaction time, a defense official said A defense official yesterday said that a purported new arms sale the US is assembling for Taiwan likely includes Integrated Battle Command Systems (IBCS). The anonymous official’s comments came hours after the Financial Times (FT) reported that Washington is preparing a US$20 billion arms sale encompassing “Patriot missiles and other weapons,” citing eight sources. The Taiwanese official said the IBCS is an advanced command and control system that would play a key role in President William Lai’s (賴清德) flagship defense program, the “T-Dome,” an integrated air defense network to counter ballistic missiles and other threats. The IBCS would increase Taiwan’s
NOMINAL NEWLYWEDS: A man’s family and his wife — his long-term caregiver — are engaged in a legal dogfight over the propriety and validity of the recent union A centenarian’s marriage to his caregiver unbeknownst to his children has prompted legal action, as the caregiver accuses the man’s children of violating her personal liberty and damaging her reputation, while the children have sought a legal option to have the marriage annulled. According to sources, the 102-year-old man surnamed Wang (王) lives in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) and previously worked as a land registration agent. Wang reportedly owns multiple properties and parcels of land worth several hundred million New Taiwan dollars and has ten children. His caregiver, a 69-year-old surnamed Lai (賴), has been caring for him since about 1999,
RSS