中壢黃屋伙房江夏堂

September 27th, 2024

Last updated June 24th, 2025

Jiangxia Hall (江夏堂), constructed in 1925 during the Japanese colonial era, stood as one of the few remaining historic residences in Zhongli until it was demolished in 2024. Located near Renhai Temple (仁海宮) in the Xingjie (新街) area, it was the home of Huang Jingtang (黃鏡堂), a scholar of classical Chinese literature and an important Taiwanese civil servant born in 1893 in Shuiwei (水尾), a village to the north of Zhongli proper.

The dark Japanese style roofing tiles really stand out.

The residence exemplified a fusion of traditional Minnan architecture with Japanese colonial elements, most notably in the uncommon use of dark Japanese roofing tiles. The exterior previously featured a stone-carved door lintel and decorative window lattices forming the character for “prosperity” (祿) on the left and “fortune” (福) on the right, although the latter was demolished along with half of the building at some point in the distant past.

The view from the front steps of the main hall.

A closer look at one of the windows on the main hall. The area above the window was gutted; one of the paintings salvaged from the house was likely displayed there until very recently.

Detail of the right side of the main hall. The building would have originally continued in this direction but it was lopped off at some point to make room for a more modern townhouse.

Gazing up at the rooftop in the main hall.

In 2024, the century-old structure was sold by Huang’s descendants and slated for demolition. While the new owner showed no interest in preserving the building or its cultural artifacts, a group of local cultural workers attempted to salvage important elements. With the cooperation of the property owner they arranged for two paintings from the main hall to be preserved by professors from National Taiwan University of Arts (國立臺灣藝術大學), while parts of the door frame, lintel, and stone-carved “prosperity” character were relocated to Xingjie Elementary School (新街國民小學). Whether these artifacts are on display or kept in storage is presently unknown.