Penghu Folk Culture

30-Second Overview: On the night of the Lantern Festival in 2025, a 47-kilogram rice cake turtle occupied half of a temple courtyard before Lake Xionglongmen Temple. Entrepreneur Lu Rui-chin successfully tossed eight sacred divination blocks and took away this giant turtle for the fifth consecutive year—next year he must return 48.5 kilograms. On the same night that people in Taiwan main island release sky lanterns and set off firecrackers, over two hundred temples in Penghu simultaneously open tables to toss divination blocks, seeking not luck, but a "turtle"—pronounced ku in Tâi-gí, which sounds like guī (return). A safe return of those who went to sea is the oldest wish of this wind island.

On February 15, 2025, the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, a 430-tael gold diamond turtle was displayed on the altar of Magong Shanshui God Temple. Members of the "Manfu Artisan Mercedes Tour" knelt before the deities and successfully tossed eight sacred divination blocks to take away this gold turtle, valued at over two million NTD¹. At the neighboring Suogang Beijixian Temple, former Han Jin-gui acquired a 260-tael golden spirit turtle with six sacred divination blocks. Artist Jiang Yong-chi won a 120-tael blooming prosperity gold turtle from Magong Shanshui God Temple for the fourth consecutive year and also took away a 12,000 NT cash turtle from Magong Lingguang Temple on the same night¹.

This is not gambling. It is a contract: people borrow a turtle from the gods, taking one year of blessing, and returning it next year with interest. The 47-kilogram rice cake turtle becomes 48.5 kilograms next year; the 430-tael gold turtle gains another tael. Year after year, the turtles get bigger, the temple courtyards become more crowded, and this spiral has turned for over two hundred and fifty years.

📝 Curator's Note
The "pledge bonus" mechanism of Turtle Seeking causes each turtle to inflate in time. This is not inflation; it is the compound interest of faith—in the gods' ledgers, people always owe a little something.

First Record from the Qianlong Era

In 1767, Hu Jian-wei, the eighteenth magistrate of Penghu, recorded the scene of Turtle Seeking in Penghu Jilie². The turtles back then were faozai (a type of cake) made of powdered rice flour and sugar water—tender white, weighing dozens of kilograms, lined up on the temple courtyard, with believers tossing divination blocks to decide who would take one.

The scale two hundred and fifty years later is completely different. In 2025, Chihkan Tower Temple's Wenheng Holy Emperor Temple displayed a 38-kilogram rice cake turtle³. Penghu once challenged the 360,000-kilogram super rice cake, attempting to register a Guinness World Record⁴. Besides faozai turtles, golden turtles, shrimp turtles, cabbage turtles, and beer turtles have appeared: Wukan used cabbages to form a turtle shape; Xingrenmaoling Temple allowed believers to win live shrimp through divination. The forms have multiplied dozens of times, but the core logic remains unchanged: you borrow something from the gods, and next year you return more.

In June 2025, "Penghu Lantern Festival Turtle Seeking" was officially registered as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Penghu County⁵. This is not a marketing tag from the Tourism Bureau; it is official recognition: this human-divine contract system is worth preserving.

The Wind Shapes Everything

To understand Penghu folk customs, one must first understand the wind.

From October every year until March of the following year, the northeast monsoon blows across the Taiwan Strait, increasing wind speed. The average monthly wind speed in Penghu reaches 8.4 meters per second in November and December⁶. Fifty-six percent of days have wind speeds exceeding ten meters per second⁶. This is not a gentle breeze: it is a wind that can blow people off course, kill crops, and whip waves to three stories high.

The wind dictates the schedule of the Penghu people. They cannot go to sea or farm in winter; most of the harvest is compressed into a few months during summer. The wind also determines the shape of their faith: Penghu temples have the highest density in Taiwan because every voyage might not return, and every village needs its own deity.

Wind Lions squat at the village entrance, facing northeast. Shi Gan Dang (a stone marker) is placed on the street corner. Temples are built with laogushi (coral limestone): salt-resistant, wind-resistant. These are not decorations; they are survival gear. The Penghu people do not worship the wind, but all their faith is a byproduct of the wind.

The Tâi-gí word for turtle, ku, sounds like guī. On an island where men going to sea might never return, "return" (guī) is the most significant character. Turtle Seeking does not seek wealth: a Penghu proverb says, "touching the turtle's head builds skyscrapers; touching the tail saves belongings; touching the shell ensures stability; touching the feet fills the house with gold and silver"—but the first one is "building skyscrapers," meaning "having a place to return to."

Temples and Steles of Four Centuries

In 1604, the Dutch East India Company forces, led by Wima Lang, landed in Penghu. Shen Yourong, the Prefect of Wusyu, arrived at Mamiya (modern Magong) and met with the Dutch at Niangma Temple—today's Penghu Tianhou Temple—persuading them to withdraw. A stele was erected afterward: "Shen Yourong orders the Red-Haired Barbarians Wima Lang, etc., to retreat"⁷.

This stele is still embedded in the right wall of Qingfeng Pavilion at Tianhou Temple, measuring 198 cm high and 28.7 cm wide⁷. It is one of Taiwan's earliest surviving records involving foreign relations and confirms that Tianhou Temple existed before 1604—the oldest Mazu temple in Taiwan.

In 1722, after Shi Lang conquered Penghu, he petitioned the Kangxi Emperor to grant Mazu the title of Queen Mother; "Niangma Temple" was officially renamed "Tianhou Temple"⁷. In 1734, Zhou Yurén, the Prefect of Penghu, recorded the "Four Great Ancient Temples" of Magong in Penghu Zhilue: Guan Di Temple, Tianhou Temple, Zhenwu Temple, and Shuixian Temple². In 1922, during the Taisho era, merchants from Taisha (Magong) raised funds to hire master carpenter Lan Mu to renovate Tianhou Temple, changing the Minnan-style temple into a Chaoshan style—this explains why today's Tianhou Temple looks different from other Mazu temples in Taiwan⁷.

💡 Did You Know
The place name "Magong" originated from "Niangma." The Mazu temple was called "Niangma Temple," abbreviated as "Mamiya," and renamed "Magong" during the Japanese colonial period. It is not uncommon for a city to be named after a temple in Taiwan (Xingang, Beigang), but Penghu's example might be the earliest.

Tidal Racks: Traps at Low Tide

Penghu's folk customs are not only in the temples but also at sea.

There are over 574 existing tidal racks in all of Penghu, and potentially over six hundred including those mentioned in oral histories that have disappeared⁸. Around Jibei Island, there are 109, making it the area with the highest density of intertidal fishing methods in the world⁸. The principle of a tidal rack is simple: curved stone walls are built on the intertidal zone; seawater brings fish in at high tide, and they are trapped when the tide goes out. No oil, no boats, no risky voyages are needed.

The Twin Heart Tidal Rack (Qianmei) is a popular spot for tourists to photograph, but it was not originally named that. It was first built by brothers Yan Chong and Yan Yuji in Donghu Village because it was located north of "Dingxi," hence the name "Dingxi Rack." Later, the second-generation inheritor Yan Gong asked Jibei masters to redesign it into a "One House, Two Caves" format, resulting in the twin heart shape⁸. In 2006, the Penghu County Government registered the Twin Heart Tidal Rack as a cultural landscape. In 2008, the Jibei tidal rack group was also registered as a county-designated cultural landscape⁹. The entire Penghu tidal rack cluster is one of the eighteen potential World Heritage sites in Taiwan selected by the Ministry of Culture⁹.

📝 Curator's Note
A tidal rack is a fishing method that does not require going to sea. On an island where men might never return from their voyages, this invention's significance is not just economic—it is a solution to fear.

Po-kua: Literature for the Illiterate

When they cannot go to sea or farm in winter, the Penghu people sing.

Po-kua (Tâi-gí) is an improvised duet structure: seven characters per line, two lines per pair, and two pairs per song. It requires no instruments and no literacy, but it demands good memory, quick wit, and a deep background in Tâi-gí¹⁰. The content ranges from love songs to complaints about farming to social satire—everything is sung. In Erkan Village, Xiyu, Penghu, four lines of po-kua are still carved on the village wall today, serving as a backdrop for tourists to take photos¹⁰.

But po-kua is disappearing. After the 1970s, only the elderly know how to sing it. Young people do not understand the ancient Tâi-gí in the lyrics, let alone improvise duets. This is a culture that cannot be preserved by YouTube—the core of po-kua is "improvisation" and "duet"; once recorded, it dies; only those who are alive can pass it on¹⁰.

Fireworks and Air Disasters

On May 25, 2002, China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrated over the sea off Penghu while flying from Taoyuan to Hong Kong, resulting in the death of all 225 passengers¹¹. This was one of Taiwan's most severe aviation accidents and severely damaged the tourism industry of Penghu.

The following year, the Penghu County Government organized the "Ten Million Charm in Jidu Island" event to boost tourism. This festival, born from disaster, later became the Penghu International Marine Fireworks Festival—attracting 530,000 visitors in 2024 and generating over 3.7 billion NTD in tourism output, with a visitor satisfaction rate of 97%¹². In 2026, the Fireworks Festival collaborated with Dragon Ball Z, running from May to August.

📝 Curator's Note
From air disaster to fireworks festival, only one year separated them. Penghu turned its deepest trauma into its brightest brand. But the success of the Fireworks Festival also brings contradictions: summer is crowded with tourists, and people leave in winter, leading to a continuous aging of Penghu's demographic structure—the proportion of people over 65 approaches nineteen percent, and the aging index reaches 194%⁶. The fireworks illuminate the summer; the wind blows through the winter.

Fifteen Days of the First Lunar Month in 2026: Two Hundred Temples Toss Divination Blocks Simultaneously

On the Lantern Festival in 2026, the Penghu County Government first linked 36 temples to launch a stamp collection event, where collecting seven stamps allowed entry into a raffle³. However, thirty-six is just the number officially connected—over two hundred temples across the county open their tables, display their turtles, and toss divination blocks on the same night. There is no unified organizer, no standardized process; the appearance of each temple's turtle is decided by each village.

This is why Penghu Turtle Seeking has not died for 250 years: it is not an "event"; it is over two hundred independent faith nodes breathing together. No one can cancel it because no one owns it.

The scene recorded by Hu Jian-wei in 1767—believers kneeling before the temple to toss divination blocks, waiting for the gods' nod—is almost identical to the scene in 2026. The only difference is that the turtle has changed from dozens of kilograms to forty-seven kilograms, and from faozai to gold. But the posture of the kneeling people has not changed, nor have the questions asked of the gods:

Next year, let those who went to sea return.

References

Further Reading:

• Taiwan Religion and Temple Culture — The social function of Taiwanese temples and folk religion
• Taiwanese Temple Festivals and Battlefront Cultures — From battlefronts to EDM Sanzai, how temple festivals are transforming in modern society
• Traditional Festivals and Celebrations — A panorama of Taiwanese festivals like Lantern Festival, Ghost Festival, and Mazu Processions
• Nine Heavens Xuan Nü Faith — Female deities and local protective gods in Taiwanese folk religion