The Qiu Family Historical Residence

The historical residence of the Qiu family was built in 1928. Qiu An-De, the owner of Yangyuan Chinese Herbal Medicines, designed the residence by himself and hired a number of skilled craftsmen to complete the construction for the purpose of demonstrating the economic power and the social status of the family. They spent two years finishing building the main structure which was a traditional Hakka architecture and with all its detailed parts painted by Master Qiu Zhen-Bang. The whole construction didn’t complete until 1931. The present residence is a brick house with the horse-back style (mabei 馬背) ridge roof and seven rooms at the width of the main hall. The pillars are made from local Cinnamomum kanehirai Hay, while the beams of the roof and walls are mostly made from Hinoki. External walls of the residence are painted mainly in red and blue. Hall pillars of bamboo shaped stone sculpture , brackets (dougong 斗拱) of delicate flowery carvings, flowery carved windows embedded on external walls, and colored drawings make the residence an integration of culture, humanity and arts. The Qiu Family Historical Residence is highly regarded as the most valuable art in Hualien County.