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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS