Pingtung Folk Art Museum Introduction
Pingtung Local Art Museum is located on Tienliao Lane in Pingtung City. Its predecessor is the "Zhongshi Di," an ancient residence built in 1896 by Qiu Yuanshou, the son of Qiu Fengyang, a major general of the Hakka militia fighting against the Japanese. Later, Qiu Yuanshou and his son Qiu Qiushun ran the Taiwan Sugar Corporation, accumulating considerable wealth, which allowed them to renovate Zhongshi Di in 1915, completing the project after three years. In 1991, due to the expansion of the grounds for Zhongzheng Junior High School in Pingtung City, the Qiu family donated two ancient buildings and their land to the school. One of the ancient houses was first demolished, and the land was designated as a sports field. In 1993, when the school was preparing to demolish Zhongshi Di, local political and academic figures, along with cultural historians, vigorously advocated for its preservation, leading to the safeguarding of the ancient residence. In 1995, Zhongshi Di was converted into the Pingtung Local Art Museum and later announced as a historical building in Pingtung County. The museum covers an area of approximately 220 ping and features a "four-character shape" in its architectural layout. It is a traditional Hakka courtyard house with a layout of two halls and two wings, centered around a courtyard surrounded by a front hall and a back hall. The front hall is the most magnificent part of the ancient residence, adorned with clay sculptures and colorful paintings on the ridge. The central screen door is embellished with gold relief, while the corridor features hanging floral decorations, hanging tube decorations, bird bracing carvings, lion seat sculptures, and painted decorations on the left and right door corridors, all of which reflect the Qiu family's remarkable heritage. This showcases the rich decorative techniques of the Pingtung Local Art Museum, including stone carvings, wood carvings, washed gravel, paintings, Tzi-chi pottery, cut and paste art, and clay sculptures, all exhibiting exquisite artistic decoration. Furthermore, the museum retains complete structures such as the gate tower, horizontal alley, ancestral hall, half-staircase, courtyard, and corridor, highlighting its unique character as a historical building.
