The Pingtung County Government on Wednesday broke ground for a “king boat” cultural museum in Donggang Township (東港), which would be the first museum to tell the stories of the 300-year-old plague-expelling religious ritual involving specially built vessels.
The museum is scheduled to open in 2024.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, celestial lord Wang Ye was called upon to protect the new building.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
The museum, which would host a full-scale king boat, has been designed to enable visitors to appreciate the exquisite art of shipbuilding, Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said.
The triennial Donggang King Boat Ceremony features a vessel built for Wang Ye, which is paraded through the town to expel and prevent the spread of plagues.
The event is the largest of its kind in Taiwan and dates back about 300 years. It was last held in October.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
King boats are adorned with detailed paintings of dragons and phoenixes, weaving together historical stories and figures from Chinese mythology.
At the end of Donggang’s week-long event, the king boat is taken to a local beach at midnight and set on fire to represent the casting out of plagues, as well as Wang Ye’s return to heaven.
The museum’s architectural design conveys the impression of a ship at sea, with an opening at the top symbolizing a dragon’s eye on a boat and curved lines at the building’s base representing waves, the Pingtung Cultural Affairs Department said in a statement.
The new museum would include an immersive theater to introduce visitors to the king boat culture through new technology, a 240-seat multifunctional audio-visual room, a library and classrooms, it said.
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