Pingtung Folk Art Museum Introduction
Pingtung Folk Arts Museum is located on Tianliao Lane in Pingtung City. It was formerly known as the "Zhongshi Di" (忠實第) ancestral house of the Qiu family, built in 1896 by Qiu Yuanshou, the son of the Hakka general Qiu Fengyang who led the anti-Japanese resistance during the Six Piles Movement. Later, Qiu Yuanshou and his son Qiu Qiushun managed the Taiwan Sugar Company, accumulating significant wealth, which allowed them to renovate Zhongshi Di in 1915, a project that took three years to complete. In 1991, due to the expansion of Zhongzheng Junior High School in Pingtung City, the Qiu family donated two ancient houses and their land to the school. One of the ancient houses was demolished, and the land was planned for a sports field. In 1993, when the school was about to demolish Zhongshi Di, local political, academic individuals and cultural historians fought hard to preserve it, resulting in the conservation of the Qiu family's ancestral house. In 1995, Zhongshi Di was transformed into the Pingtung Folk Arts Museum and was later declared a historical building in Pingtung County. The total area of the Pingtung Folk Arts Museum is about 220 ping, and its exterior layout is in the shape of the Chinese character for "four." It is a traditional Hakka siheyuan (four-sided courtyard structure) with two halls and two wings, surrounding a central courtyard defined by a front hall entrance and a rear hall's main hall; the entrance hall is the most exquisite and grand part of the ancient house, featuring mud sculptures and painted decorations on its ridge in the shape of a water crest, a central screen door with gold carvings, and decorative carvings of hanging flowers, tubes, bird perches, and lion seats on the eaves. The left and right corridors have painted mud sculptures, all of which reflect the exceptional family fortune of the Qiu family at that time. This reveals that the decorative techniques of the Pingtung Folk Arts Museum are quite rich, showcasing an impressive array of artistic decorations such as stone carvings, wood carvings, pebble wash, paintings, Takou pottery, paper-cutting, and mud sculptures. Additionally, the museum retains the gate tower, cross lane, ancestral hall, half upper floors, courtyard, and corridors, all displaying the unique characteristics of this historical building.
