Auctioning the Earth God: the elimination of a platform for interaction among rural people

With the winter crops harvested and spring seedlings fresh and new, as the new year replaces the old, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was the coldest day since the warm winter began. While most people eagerly rush to the city center to enjoy the splendid fireworks display, several of Meinong's oldest hamlets - Minong Zhuang, Longdu Zhuang, Jiuxionglin Zhuang and Zhutoubei Zhuang - instead hold the simple, old-style three-offering rite of worshipping Heaven and honoring the Earth God, known as "New Year Blessing," to pray for the whole hamlet.

However, the "Minong Yong'an Zhuang Fuchang Earth God House," located at No. 315 Yong'an Road (Lot 1048) in Meinong, is now facing the crisis of being put up for sale by the Land Administration Bureau of the Kaohsiung City Government under the "Cadastral Cleanup Act." Once this comes to pass, it will cause irreversible and devastating impact on the cultural value of the Yong'an Zhuang Earth God Fuchang. Behind the auction of the Earth God's land is nothing less than the elimination of a platform that unites rural interpersonal networks; what disappears along with it are also Hakka food, rituals and traditional music culture.