The old house of Xue family

The old house of Xue family

Located at No. 40, Haiping Road, xiebeili, Zuoying District, Kaohsiung City, Xuejia ancient house is a typical Minnan style traditional three drop three courtyard double dragon protection building. It is a simple Minnan style building, which represents the spirit of perseverance and hard work of the ancestors of the Xue family.

brief introduction

The ancestors of the Xue family have been engaged in farming, fishing and business for generations. Recently, they have been engaged in grain business and sugar business. Because the ancestors of the Xue family did not become officials, although the ancient house of the Xue family covers an area of about 1400 square meters, it does not have luxurious pavilions or buildings with cornices and ridges.

The three entrance courtyard of the Xue family's ancient house was completed by three generations of ancestors. For the Xue family, it is a combination of the efforts of the ancestors of the past dynasties. It is different from the rich people who completed a large house at one time in ancient times. The three entrance courtyards are: the first one was built in 1819 (the 24th year of Jiaqing), the second one was built in 1850 (the 30th year of Daoguang), the third one was built in 1910 (the 43rd year of Meizhi), and the right outer Dragon Guard was built in 1924 (the 13th year of Dazheng). The first fall was originally built with old-fashioned building materials such as lime, clay and clay bricks. However, when the US military bombed Taiwan at the end of the Second World War, most of them were destroyed. Later, the building materials used in the first fall were changed to red bricks and washed stones. The second was covered after 30 years, and the third was made of red brick and limestone from banpingshan.

The first, second and third entrances of Xuejia ancient house are all treated with facade skirt block as stone like base. The body block and waist block are built with red bricks, and the roof tile is used as red tile. The crossbeam is connected by a bucket arch, without any nails. The main body is overhanging under the eaves to make a "Guandao arch". The ancient houses span three different eras and have been built for nearly a hundred years. However, the shape and structure of the courtyard are well integrated. Although they were affected by the war, they still stand up to now, and most of their descendants are not good at reconstruction.

The architectural style of Xue's house is very orderly. After the first building is completed, it will be the gate of the Xue family. After the new house is built, it can only be developed backward and left and right according to the specifications, and it will be increased one by one. The hall is five bay in width, with stone like decoration under the platform. The left and right sides are protected by dragons, forming independent courtyards. There are no wood and stone carvings in each hall. Only the clay painting on the window lintel and the gables protecting the dragon on both sides are decorated with "goose head pendant". The decoration of the hall is simple and elegant.

There are four wing rooms on the left and right sides of each entrance, which is called "rear guard dragon". In the middle, there are five big houses according to the specifications. There are two rooms on the left and right sides of the big house, which is called "inner guard dragon". Between the inner guard dragon and the outer guard dragon is a long lane. In the long lane, there is a water passage corridor which can pass through the back. The water passage corridor can shelter from rain and can pass through water. Therefore, it is called the water gate. This porch is specially used as the roof truss of "three links and five melons" and also has a simple structure The porch and external wall are built with flat arches leading to the road behind the house. The courtyard directly in front of the mansion is called "Dingting", which is the place for big family gatherings or dinners. The courtyard connecting with the Dingting is called "XiaTing".

As the ancestors of the Xue family have been farming for generations, they always put their crops into the barn when they harvest them. However, in order to prevent the rats from stealing, they all left a small square hole in the corner of each wing room and barn. This hole is called "cat hole", commonly known as "cat hole", which is used by kittens to catch mice. This is very important in agricultural society It's a matter of time.

In order to encourage future generations to have the good habit of indomitable and studious, the ancestors of the Xue family wrote Juren on the door of the right inner dragon protection room, Youyi on the door of the left inner dragon protection room, deqisuo on the door of the right outer dragon protection room, juzhian on the door of the left outer dragon protection room, limenrui and other couplets to encourage future generations. It can be seen from this that the ancestors of the Xue family made great efforts to educate their descendants! Xue's house is the most complete house in Kaohsiung. At the same time, Xue's house is also one of the only houses in Kaohsiung. Therefore, it has the traditional style of "Three Entrances", which is not as good as other houses. Although there are many descendants of the owners of the Xue family's ancient house, they are not careless in protecting the ancient house left by their ancestors. Therefore, under the leadership of former chairman Xue Guoliang, the descendants of the Xue family founded the "Xue's cultural and educational foundation" to manage the Xue family's ancient house.

Architectural features

The first, second and third entrances are treated with facade skirt block as stone like base, the body block and waist block are built with red brick bucket, and the roof tile is used as red tile. Under the eaves of his body, he was chosen as a "Guan Dao Gong" and his lower house was called San Luo. The first entrance title is "Hedong", the second entrance title is "meikui", and the third entrance title is "Hedong". The third entrance retains more of its original appearance. The dagongs under the eaves are painted with dots, and the left and right dragon guards are respectively inscribed with "Juren" and "Youyi". The gables on both sides are decorated with "goose head pendant". There is also a water passage corridor between the first and second dragon guards on the left which can pass through the back. This porch is specially used as the roof truss of "three connections and five melons". It also has simplified components such as "shuzai" and "turban". The outer wall of the porch is flat arched to lead to the road behind the house.

Historical evolution

Biography of Xue Gong, founder of the Xue family: "source: blog of the Xue cultural and educational foundation, Zuoying District, Kaohsiung City."

In the late Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (about 230 years ago), Ben's ancestors crossed the sea to Taiwan from Fuqing County, Fujian Province, and settled in Chishan, Kaohsiung County. This is the beginning of Zuoying Xue's coming to Taiwan. When he passed on to the fifth generation, his parents died one after another when he was nine years old (in 1780 A.D. in the year of gengzi of Qianlong). Today, after Zuoying, he married his Aunt Xue, who was born in 1776 in the year of Zuoying ）。 This is the reason why the Xue family continued to take root after Zuoying. It is now the ninth generation, with more than 1000 people.

Tourism characteristics

Status quo of historic sites

Xue's ancient house is well preserved and has the architectural style of traditional houses. Nowadays, there are still some descendants living in this area, while some of them are rented to people with different surnames.

building material

Limestone and masonry

Designated reasons

This building is a traditional Minnan style three in three down form. It was built 180 years ago. The building has a long history and is well preserved. It has the style of traditional residential buildings. It shows the beauty of settlement architecture and fully shows the spirit of the Xue family's early reclamation

Determine the scope of the land

Zuoying District, 17002, 1702-1, 1702-2, 1703, 1703-1, 1703-2, 1713, 1713-1, 1713-2, 1713-2, 1713-3, covers an area of 400 square meters

Other related

Address: 40 Haiping Road, Zuoying District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Longitude: 120.28781329448

Latitude: 22.685770898788

Ticket information: free.

Chinese PinYin : Xue Jia Gu Cuo