District · Taiwan

Shanlin District 杉林區

Shanlin District (杉林區) in Kaohsiung (高雄) has a Hakka (客家) settlement history visible in the Huang Family Compound (黃家伙房) at Yuemei (月眉). The family’s ancestors crossed Moonlight Mountain (月光山) from Meinong (美濃) and settled beside springs.

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Get to know Shanlin District

Sunset over flooded rice paddies with palm trees silhouetted in Shanlin District, Kaohsiung
Sunset over farmland in Shanlin District, Kaohsiung · 高雄市杉林區的日落景色 Source-recorded photograph date: 2015-02-10 17:31:43. · Bellenion · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.

Administrative area
District · 區
Part of
Kaohsiung City
Chinese name
杉林區
Local areas
District guide

Family settlement

The compound remains a family home and ancestral centre. Its tiled roof once distinguished it from surrounding thatched houses, giving the house its local name Wawuxia (瓦屋下), meaning beneath the tiled house. A ceremonial gateway built in 1934 carries fan and scroll decorations, with inscriptions encouraging filial respect, brotherly friendship and learning.

Courtyards and water

The compound has two successive courtyard sections rather than a single main courtyard. Its grassy forecourt faces a half-moon pond used for water storage and fire protection. Two old wells lie behind the ancestral hall. A spring-fed washing place and the pond preserve features of the settlement’s earlier domestic landscape.

Sources for this guide

百年黃家伙房 看見客家文化新風景 - 高雄畫刊-高雄市政府新聞局 · Kaohsiung City Government Information Bureau

Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-27.

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Sources & geographic information

Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.

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