Culture Minister Cheng Li-chiun visited Qionglin Village in Kinmen on Nov. 23 to learn about the preservation and revitalization progress of Kinmen's Qionglin Settlement and its ancestral worship of the Tsai lineage.
Qionglin Village is the first settlement in Kinmen to be registered as a heritage site. It embodies rich cultural values and a long history. The village is home to roughly 400 Minnan traditional buildings with swallowtail roofs or rounded horseback-arch roofs, as well as historic sites such as the Tsai Lineage Ancestral Temple, Yi Gu Tang (怡穀堂), and Shisa.
The Tsai lineage culture represents the typical lineage settlement of Kinmen. Preserved by the Kingmen Qionglin Tsai Lineage Foundation (財團法人金門縣瓊林蔡氏十七郎公裔孫基金會), the ancestral worship rite of the Qionglin Tsai Lineage Ancestral Temple takes place every spring and autumn. It has been registered as a folk custom of Kinmen County in 2011.
During the Nov. 23 visit, Minister Cheng expressed her faith in the Kinmen County Government and her hopes for Kinmen National Park to collaborate with local agencies in preserving valuable cultural heritage.
As a stellar combination of tangible and intangible cultural assets, Qionglin Village has been selected to participate in the Executive Yuan's "Reconstruction of Historical Scenes” initiative.
The initiative will deepen cultural strength and drive cultural participation. It seeks to drive urban and rural development and integrate different institutions, professions, and sectors through the management of tangible cultural assets, enabling the land and its people to reconnect with local history and culture through historic memories.
So far, 15 sites have been approved by the Ministry of Culture. The initiative will reconstruct traditional culture through four angles - intangible cultural assets, tangible cultural assets, community participation and innovative revitalization, and technology-driven tours and displays.
Minister Cheng Li-chiun and Magistrate Chen Fu-hai (陳福海) of Kinmen County attend the rites of ancestor worship upon invitation from the Qionglin Tsai Lineage Temple.