Liu Ancestral Home

As part of the bus trip to the Lantern Festival in HsinChu we visited the historical site of the Liu Family Ancestral Compound in Xinpu. The island of Taiwan was basically ignored by China until the end of the Ming Dynasty in 1644 when the remnants of the Ming supporters escaped to Taiwan(just like the remnants of the KMT escaped China to Taiwan in 1949.) After the conquering of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty in 1683, immigrants from China came to Taiwan as settlers. Mostly, these immigrants came from the Fujian Province on the mainland and the Taiwanese dialect is close to what is spoken today in Fujian.

Also in this immigration from mainland China to the island of Taiwan was the Hakka ethic group. They settled in Taiwan mostly between Maoli, HsinChu and TaoYuan. They are a closely knit community and are still the dominate group in areas like Xinpu.

One family of Hakka immigrants was the Liu Family which came to Xinpu in 1755. Their Ancestral Compound has gone through many renovations and additions since then, but visiting it today gives us a feeling for what communal life was like in their large extended families.

(Most of the settlers were men, and if they were successful enough they brought back a wife from their home in mainland China. About 1800, the Qing Dynasty forbade the importation of brides, so the settlers had to take a native aboriginal woman if they wanted a wife. So the Taiwanese of today, are thoroughly intermarried with the aboriginals.)

The Compound is centered about a central courtyard. Used to collect water  when it rained and dry crops when it was sunny.

The halls of rooms are built along 3 sides of the courtyard. As the Liu Family grew, more halls were built surrounding the existing halls. There eventually were three sets of halls surrounding the courtyard.

This produced narrow alley ways between the halls. Eventually the compound covered 1000 ping(35570 square feet) and had 99 rooms. 

Maybe privacy wasn't such an important concern in those families. The central hall facing the courtyard was the most important.

It contained the Family Altar to the Ancestors.

The distinctive roof on the central hall, with its "swallow-tail" ornaments, marks the family as having had success in the examinations for public office in Beijing.

Being a rich and prosperous family, the interior walls are covered with hand painted artwork.

This Hakka family has a long history and attendance at it's annual Tomb Sweeping Ceremony is mandatory for descendants. Thousands of descendants show up to worship the ancestors that came in 1755. Out behind the Ancestral Compound is a Family Mausoleum where more than 1000 descendants can be intered.