Folk art of Taiwan

“Old MacDonald had a farm!” – These lanterns were exhibited at the Taiwanese Lantern Festival, celebrated in the city of Tainan during Chinese New Year 2005 (Year of the Rooster). (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Generally, the Taiwanese are a delightful and friendly people, who love simple things. This fact is obvious in the everyday picture through the rich and flourishing folk art, which adorns house gables, embankments along roads, and innumerable other places.

Other examples of Taiwanese art may be seen in the ubiquitous Daoist temples, which are adorned with countless sculptures, carvings, reliefs, wall paintings, and paper lanterns, depicting Chinese mythology, gods, dragons, Feng-Huang (often erroneously called ‘Chinese Phoenix’), tigers, lions etc. This artwork can be studied on the pages Religion: Daoism in Taiwan, and Culture: Lamps and lights.

Pictures, depicting Taiwanese wall paintings, are shown on a separate page: Culture: Wall paintings, and pictures, depicting artwork created by the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, are shown on the page Culture: Tribal art of Taiwan.

Aogu is a marvelous wetland north of the town of Dongshih, south-western Taiwan. In this area, various artwork has been exhibited.

Incidentally, many birds from this wetland are presented on the page Animals – Birds: Birds in Taiwan.

As bamboo is an extremely common plant in Taiwan, it is only natural that bamboo items often occur in local folk art.

Folk art, Dongshih, near Taichung: A lobster and two beetles, made from bamboo branches, shown on a traditional tea tray, and a dragon, made from a tree root and bits of bamboo. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), also called Japanese or Manchurian crane, breeds in large reedbeds in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and south-eastern Siberia, and a small population is also found on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. Despite the fact that this crane is a very rare visitor to Taiwan, it is commonly depicted as ornamentation in Daoist temples.

Erosion from sea and wind has shaped the soft Daliao Sandstone rocks in Yeliou Geopark, northern Taiwan, creating fantastic formations, including gigantic ‘mushrooms’. Many of these rocks are shown on the page Nature: Nature’s artwork.

The threatened black-faced spoonbill (Platalea minor) breeds on islets off the west coast of Korea, on offshore islets in Liaoning Province in China, and since 2006 also a few pairs in the Tumen Estuary in Russia. (Source: Birdlife International)

From an estimated number as high as 10,000, the population plummeted to a low of 288 individuals in 1988. Since then, conservation efforts have caused the population to increase to about 6,000 individuals in 2022. With a total of about 3,800 birds, Taiwan is the most important wintering area for this species.

Naturally, this iconic bird is lavishly represented in Taiwanese folk art. Some examples are shown below.

During the Tainan Lantern Festival in 2005 (described elsewhere on this page), this paper lantern depicts a black-faced spoonbill.

During the Daoist festival Tzuoh Jiaw, held in the village of Dalinpo near Kaohshiung, local gods are worshipped to prevent bad events. Other events, including pranks, also take place during this festival.

Other Daoist festivals are described on the page Religion: Daoism in Taiwan.

In Taiwan, the sika deer (Cervus nippon) was almost exterminated due to excessive hunting, but has now been re-introduced in several places. Occasionally, this deer is displayed in Taiwanese folk art.

This Daoist grave near Chunri, southern Taiwan, is adorned with a relief, depicting a sika deer. Many other pictures, depicting Daoist graves, are shown on the page Culture: Graves. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The wax apple (Syzygium samarangense), also called Java apple or Semarang rose-apple, is a tropical tree of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), which may reach a height of 12 m. Its place of origin is probably the Malay Peninsula and the Greater Sunda Islands, but it was introduced at an early stage to many other areas in Asia, and today it is widely cultivated in the tropics for its delicious fruits.

A fig tree had sprouted in a crack in this concrete wall along a street in Taichung. It was cut down, but some roots were still remaining, and holes were drilled into the wood, creating a small piece of art. The holes were possibly provided as breeding places for solitary bees or other insects. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

These tiles, exhibited in Taichung (top), and in a park near the Lanyan River, north-eastern Taiwan, depict cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis). This bird is described on the pages Animals – Birds: Birds in Taiwan, and Birds in Africa. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Qingshui, known locally as Zushi-Gong, is the principal god worshipped in Qingshui Zushi Miao, a Daoist temple in the town of Sanxia, northern Taiwan. This temple is popularly known as the ‘Bird Temple’, due to the numerous depictions of birds on walls and columns. No less than 106 different bird species have been identified here, including six endemics.

This owl-like monster, exhibited in front of the Fushing Temple in Xiluo, carries a sign which says: ‘I am an eared animal. If you touch me, you will burn your skin.’ – This monster is killed symbolically during Chinese New Year’s Eve by igniting thousands of firecrackers around it. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Pork is a very popular food item in Taiwan, so, naturally, pigs abound in Taiwanese folk art. Three examples are shown below.

Taiwanese marionette puppet show is a type of opera, in which the performance is done through cloth puppets. These puppets originated in the 17th Century in the Chinese Fujian Province. From this province, many people emigrated to Taiwan, where marionette puppet show soon became a popular art form.

Head, hands, and feet are made of carved wood, while the body and limbs consist of cloth. During the performance, a person makes the puppet move, using his gloved hand inside the puppet. In the old days, the puppets resembled sacks, hence the name 布袋戲 (bu dai xi), which literally means ‘cloth bag opera’. (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glove_puppetry)

The Pilgrimage to the West is a mythological novel by Wu Cheng-en (1500-1582), in which a monk, Xuan-zang, travels to western China with his three disciples, Sun Wu-kong (‘Monkey’), who is armed with a magic stick, Zhu Ba-jie (‘Pig’), who is armed with a rake-like weapon, and Sha Wu-jing, who is responsible for the luggage, transported on a horse.

These puppets, depicting Xuan-zang (the monk), Sun Wu-kong (‘Monkey’), Zhu Ba-jie (‘Pig’), and Sha Wu-jing (the servant), were photographed during a marionette performance by the Hsin Shing-Kuo Puppet Show, taking place in the town of Huwei, western Taiwan. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

At the same performance, Judy’s niece Guo-chin and I won these fine puppets in a lottery. In the upper picture, we are posing together with the 86-year-old grandson of the founder of Hsin Shing-Kuo Puppet Show. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Judy got acquainted with an elderly lady, who produced various animals from grass, which was woven around metal wires. Three examples are shown below.

Although neither the lion nor the tiger have ever lived in Taiwan, they occur abundantly in Daoist temples as mythological creatures, often in the form of guardians.

Lion sculptures are also often placed as protectors on Daoist graves. Several examples are shown on the page Culture: Graves.

The presence of the tiger in Daoist temples is more easily explained than the presence of the lion. Daoism was brought to Taiwan from China, where the tiger was once quite common. In Chinese mythology, the tiger is the ruler of all animals, representing the masculine forces in nature. Traditionally, it is also regarded as one of the four super-intelligent creatures, the others being the dragon, the feng-huang (erroneously called ‘Chinese Phoenix’), and the tortoise.

The tiles in the pictures below, made by school children, are exhibited in Central Taiwan Science Park, Taichung.

Images, consisting of painted concrete, are often exhibited in Taiwan. A number of examples are shown below.

The fly amanita (Amanita muscaria) is a most striking mushroom, having a bright red cap with numerous white ‘spots’, which are in fact are remnants of a membrane that encloses the mushroom in its young stage. It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but has been introduced to many places in the Southern Hemisphere.

This species has hallucinogenic properties and was formerly used as an intoxicant by indigenous peoples of Siberia and Lapland. This subject is described in depth on the page Books: Seed of Knowledge, Stones of Plenty, Chapter 3.

The grey wolf (Canis lupus), or simply wolf, is widespread in Europe, Arabia, the Middle East, and northern parts of Asia, as well as in North America. About 37 subspecies are recognized, some of which may merit specific status. The total number of wolves is estimated at 300,000.

The mikado pheasant (Syrmaticus mikado), which is endemic to Taiwan, is restricted to the highest mountain areas of the island.

In my opinion, most graffiti is pure junk, but occasionally you come across funny ones, or small pieces of art. Some examples, all from Taichung, are shown below.

During the Taiwanese Lantern Festival, which is celebrated during the Chinese New Year, elaborate lanterns are produced in the thousands. These pictures from Tainan were taken during Chinese New Year 2005 (Year of the Rooster).

This sculpture in Taichung, which resembles a Christmas tree, consists of an iron scaffold, ‘adorned’ with old safety helmets, golf balls, wires with gleaming bulbs, etc. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

These figures, made from joined pieces of wood, were exhibited near the town of Shenghsing.

In Taiwan, electricity meter boxes are often decorated with paintings, most of which are rather kitschy.

This painting in Taichung depicts coconut palms, which must be an unknown hybrid, as the nuts are clustered on the trunk, and not, as is usually the case, just below the fronds. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

This sculpture, exhibited outside an elementary school in Taichung, depicts a cat with a Taiwan barbet (Psilopogon nuchalis) on its head. This bird is described on the page Animals – Birds: Birds in Taiwan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Three examples of kindergarten children’s artwork, Taichung.

Sculpture, depicting a Taiwan macaque (Macaca cyclopis), Nanhua, near Yujing, southern Taiwan. This monkey is described on the page Animals – Mammals: Monkeys and apes. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

(Uploaded February 2018)

(Latest update July 2024)

Kaj Halberg - writer & photographer

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Folk art of Taiwan