Kinmen Travel

Huang Hsuan-Hsien (13th generation) was born in 1758 and passed away in 1792. His father Huang Yun-Chun (12th generation) was an imperial official with the rank of "Hanwailang" and had seven sons, and Huang Hsuan-Hsien was the youngest son. The family was not only well respected locally but also actively engaged in overseas trade. Shortly after China opened up five ports to foreign trade, his great-grandson Huang Hsi-Huai (1842~, 16th generation) traveled to Indonesia to set up a business there. Huang His-Huai's sons Ti-Hsuan and Ti-shan went on to prosper in Indonesia and Singapore while his eldest son Chang-Han (Jui-Pu) stayed in Kinmen and jointly inherited the house with Huang Hsi-Yung's (16th generation) grandson Huang Pin-Hsiang.

To demonstrate their wealth, the Huang family built a courtyard house divided into six sections with two wing chambers and swallowtail roofs. The front courtyard is in the grand entry style (three gateways), the front and back main halls were of column-and-tie construction, while the exterior walls were of the gable and rested beam load-bearing type. The wooden door panels were decorated with carvings while the front water wheel wall featured paintings of "Fortune", "Wealth", "Virtue", "Harmony", flower and birds as well as floral porcelain inlays. The front building had dragon-shaped downspouts and lion-motif tile ends. When the R.O.C. army took over Kinmen in 1949, around 40~50 soldiers where housed in the building. Much of the timber structure was destroyed when they used the doors, windows and bed boards for kindling.


In the 1970's, Huang Ti-Shan who traded in local specialty produce in Singapore donated NT$400,000 to pay for repairs to the front and rear hall roofs by Siyuan craftsmen. In 1991, local infrastructure works saw the left wing demolished to make way for a drain. The building today is a six section grand abode with a right wing. In 2003, Huang Shui-Pen returned to Kinmen and in the following year, provided NT$100,000 to make repairs to the part of the roof and walls with tin sheeting and cement.