Gong Family Ancestral House Introduction
Proceed along the Elderly Road in front of the Chen family ancestral house, take a right turn at the first fork, and you will soon discover another ancient building, the well-preserved and more elegantly rustic old residence known as the Gong family ancestral house. About a hundred years ago, the four brothers of the Gong family moved from Tukuch Village in Pingtung County to settle in Elderly Village. The ancestral house is a Sanheyuan-style building, covering an area of approximately 3.3 hectares, and consists of thirty interconnected rooms. The central altar in the front yard is dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva, while the main hall in the back yard is the ancestral shrine where the Gong family venerates its ancestors. The beams and columns of the Gong family's building are made from Fujian fir, which has remained strong and resilient for over a century. The walls are about 36 cm thick, constructed entirely of stone and lime mixture, without any use of cement. The doors and walls are intricately carved with auspicious motifs such as landscapes, dragons, phoenixes, qilin, and cranes, all of which have withstood the test of time and remain vividly detailed. The window walls are sculpted in the shape of books, with poems inscribed on them, each with different content, and the handwriting is still clearly visible today. The flooring in both the front and back yards is laid with red bricks in a diamond pattern to prevent cracking, showcasing the building's scientific approach to architecture.
