Pingtung -- Art and Culture

Travel & Literature Museum

Folk Art Museum

The Folk Art Museum, lying inconspicuously next to Chingcheng Junior High School, was originally built by the Qiu family after they were successful in the sugar business. To preserve this cultural heritage, the Pingtung county government transformed it into the "Folk Art Museum of Pingtung County" in 1995 to display relevant artifacts.

The layout of the museum looks like the Chinese character "四" ("four" in English) from a bird's eye view. It is a Hakka style siheyuan with two halls plus two additionally-built square-shaped houses that are parallel with the gate. The roof gable is a horse-back wall and the overall building was decorated with large quantities of wooden sculptures, koji pottery, ceramic applique and clay sculptures, making it more exuberant than traditional Hakka houses, which is one of it's main features.

Travel & Literature Museum

Walking by Jieshou Library on Gongyuan Road, one can spot an installation artwork with various kinds of miniature vehicles, vessels, or aircraft on it and the road signs indicating different place names, thrusting the beholders into a travel fantasy. Coincidently, the Travel & Literature Museum is right next to it, It is worth a visit, for one can be immersed in it's vast world of travel.

The small library inside the museum features a variety of travel guide books in different languages. Moreover, there is a small exhibition room that can be used for exhibitions, forums, or film screenings on a regular basis.

House of the General (Military Dependents' Village Cultural Museum)

The House of the General in Shengli Village was also a military officer's residence built during Japanese rule. It was later used as a residence for several superintendents of the ROC Military Academy, and now it is used as the Military Dependents' Village Cultural Museum with it's conventional red gate preserved. In the museum is an introduction to the life and experiences of the generals who lived here, in addition to a wide array of artifacts such as military uniforms, caps, and Air Forces military dependents' village artifacts. In particular, the office desk for the superintendents is preserved as well.

Yulan Magnolia and Ceylon Olive have been planted outside the house of the General for many years, with a unique-looking aircraft secondary fuel tank standing next to them, The tank, which was discarded either due to being decommissioned or dismantled owing to the attempt to reduce the weight of a broken aircraft, is now used as a water tank for the military dependents.