The Thirteen Villages of Syuejia (Chinese: 學甲十三庄; Hanyu Pinyin: xuéjiǎshísānzhuāng;[1] Tongyong Pinyin: syuéjiǎshíhsanjhuang;[1] Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ha̍k-kah-cha̍p-saⁿ-chng[2]) were a group of Taiwanese Mandarin villages built in the seventeenth century CE, in nowadays Syuejia District (學甲區) and Beimen District (北門區), Tainan City, Taiwan. In 1661, when Koxinga arrived in the south-west part of Taiwan, four families from Baijiao Township (白礁鄉), Tonan County (同安縣), Fujian Province, China with the last names Chen (陳), Li (李), Hsieh (謝) and Chuang (莊) came along and built these villages.[3]
8 of them were located in Syuejia District nowadays:
5 of them were located in Beimen District nowadays:
Located by the east side of Taiwan Strait, the villages were deeply influenced by the sea. It formed a culture or lifestyle called the Salt Land Lifestyle (鹽分地帶).[12] Under this lifestyle, each villages had their own unique industries. Most common type of them were Fishery and Agriculture.[13]
Fishery could be seen in villages such as Xidiliao, Duzitou etc.. They breed oysters, milkfish, shrimps, and others.[13]
Agriculture were mostly be seen in areas such as Dawan, Sanliaowan, Erchonggang etc.. The agricultural form there were dry farming because of the salt amount in the soil was too high for most of the plants. They grew garlic, scallion, shallot, corn and such.[12][13]
Apart from these, trading was once very prevalent here.
