Author(s)

Y.-C. Lin, T.-C. Wu, M.-F. Hsu & L.-Y. Huang

Abstract

Hua-Zai is a village on Penghu Wangan Island, located on the east side of the Taiwan Strait of Taiwan. West of the village near the coast, north, east and south surround on three sides to hold a gentle hill. That is the traditional village-type of Han Chinese immigrants facing the sea settlement. Locals call the quiet Hua-Zai Village, by its name Jung-She, or \“Flower Village”, this name first appeared in the Qing Dynasty in 1699, learned on the basis of local genealogy, the late Ming having recorded that ancestors settled. It is believed to have existed as a settlement since Han Chinese from mainland China began settling there three centuries ago. The Hua-Zai Village obtained the valuable World Monuments Watch (WMF) announcing that it is on the \“List of 100 most endangered sites”, and recognized that the settlement has been there for three centuries of the Chinese Han people immigration and cultural development, in 2004. The new designation for Hua-Zai Village may finally bring about much-needed government support for the challenging work of preserving the houses in the village, which is considered the largest and most well-preserved early Han settlement in Taiwan. The islands geographical environment restricts and decides the life appearance. Hua-Zai Village’s geographical environment limits agriculture cultivation, but the fishery resources are rich, the settlement keeping the Han traditional houses, temples, cowshed, water wells, the wharves and the industrial structures. Those architectural styles are regarded as the model of the Han people’s traditional settlement, which dates back 75 to 150 years, have not been modified and reflect designs handed down from early Han settlers. Village

Keywords

Penghu Jung-She village, settlement life history, virtual tour, spatial information, modelling