After defending their culture for a century, Magang residents refuse to compromise

Located in the easternmost part of Taiwan, Magang Fishing Village (馬崗漁村) is famous for its “sea women” culture and traditional stone house settlements. The job of “sea women” is to scrape seaweed from the wave-cut platform and collect snails and shellfish. But the stone house settlement with its century-old history is perhaps Magang’s most precious cultural asset. Sadly, the early residents who built houses in Magang did not register their ownership of the land and the land in the fishing village was purchased by developers, resulting in the forced relocation of residents from the settlement.

Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the Residents and Environmental Rights Protection Foundation (居民及環境權保障基金會), in November last year, Stone House No. 11 and No. 12 of Magang were successfully registered as historical buildings. Furthermore, in July last year, the court declared that Magang had won its lawsuit regarding the deliberation procedure, and residents are now attempting to register more stone houses in the settlement.

以下為中文對照

百年文資保衛戰 馬崗居民不妥協

位於台灣最東邊的聚落馬崗漁村，以海女文化及傳統石屋聚落聞名，海女的工作就是在海蝕平台上刮海菜，收集螺類、貝類及下海採石花，而擁有百年歷史的石屋聚落更是馬崗最珍貴的文化資產。但早期在馬崗建屋的居民們未登記土地所有權，漁村的土地隨著開發計畫被建商大舉收購，導致被迫搬離聚落。

所幸在居民及環境權保障基金會的努力下，去年十一月，成功登錄了馬崗十一號及十二號石屋為歷史建築，而今年七月關於審議程序問題，法院宣布馬崗勝訴，目前居民們也在爭取更多石頭屋的登錄計畫。