Light House Cyclopedia

Question 22：Lighthouses built in the Ching Dynasty?

A:
Numerous vessels passed by Taiwan and many ship wrecks happened since ports are set up. To solve this issue, in 1778, the Ching Dynasty government set up marine affairs offices o patrol over the sea, and seven-floor stone tower shining with the oil lamp on the western coast as the navigational mark between Taiwan and Amoy (Siamen) areas. This tower is the first lighthouse in Taiwan. In 1875, the general customs duty department of the Ching Dynasty hired the British chief architect John Reginald Harding to build a new-type white tubular lighthouse to replace the original stone tower. This lighthouse is called Yuwongdau Lighthouse (Siyu Lighthouse) now. This the first lighthouse in Taiwan, and also the first western-style lighthouse at that time.
　　During the Ching Dynasty, after the construction of Yuwongdau Lighthouse, several white lighthouses was built including Eluanbi Lighthouse, Kaohsiung Lighthouse (Cihou Lighthouse), Tamsui Lighthouse, and Anping Lighthouse in the Taiwan Island afterwards. Weather stations were set up near those lighthouses. Eluanbi Lighthouse and Kaohsiung Lighthouse are both large-sized western-style lighthouses. Tamshui Lighthouse and Anping Lighthouse are both iron-framed lighthouses.

Several offshore lighthouses including Dongjyu Island Lighthouse, Wuciou (Isle) Lighthouse, Dongyong Lighthouse and Beiding Island Lighthouse were built by the Customs of the Ching Dynasty as well. After the fall of the Mainland China, those offshore lighthouses belongs to the Taiwan government now.

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