Birthplace of martial arts, witness to the history of the Qigang region.
In the early days of Taiwan’s development, Xiluo locals divided the area into seven “gangs” (Qigang) based on villages to protect their homes. Martial arts flourished there; in 1996 a sculpture park was established, turning seven martial-arts moves into statues that record local history. The founder of the Qigang Martial-Arts Hall, Master A-shan, trained at Shaolin Temple and excelled at Jinying Quan. With bandits rampant in Taiwan at the time and seriously threatening people’s lives, the martial-arts halls of the seven villages became local self-defense training centers under these urgent circumstances.
Today Yunlin has several sites commemorating Xiluo’s Qigang that can be visited. Zhenxing Temple, Master A-shan’s cemetery, Qigang Sculpture Park, the Zhang-Liao Ancestral Hall, Guangxing Community and others all preserve the spirit of Xiluo’s Qigang.