Penghu has many number 1s of Taiwan! No matter in historical aspect or in the aspect of cultural characteristics, in Penghu you can see the first Western-style castle in Taiwan, the last gate city gate built in the Qing Dynasty in Taiwan, the oldest Thean Hou Temple, and so on, but you might not think that even the earliest military dependent village in Taiwan history is in Penghu.

The so-called military dependent village refers to the social settlement built for soldiers and their family dependants according to local conditions after 1949 when the KMT came to Taiwan. Due to the current regulations in Taiwan, many military dependent villages have been demolished in order to return the land to the government, and the residents in the military dependent villages were moved to new national settlement houses. However, the culture of military dependent village resulting from the special historic background has always been discussed. In Penghu, the Duxingshi Village is the earliest military dependent village in Taiwan, and is now still be well-preserved by the county government, as a memorial of the military dependent village.

The history of Duxingshi Village spanned from the period of Japanese occupation to the period after the government moved to Taiwan. As early as 1907, Japanese built fortresses of Japanese artillery brigade, and constructed military facilities, soldiers’ quarters they were the precursor of Duxingshi Village. After recovery, these facilities and quarters were taken over by Makung Command and were assigned to military dependents for use. As the population increased after more Military dependents moved in, Taiwan military began to build new military dependent villages one after another next to the original Japanese-style houses. At that time, there are a total of 78 households the building materials were bamboo, lime, yellow mud, Lao-Gu stone, and basalt, and the Japanese-style wooden houses were separated into two households  with wooden plate the living facilities were provided, and the warehouse, stables, and etc. spaces during the Japanese occupation was converted into resident houses. At that time, the residents in military dependent village used the shelters as chickens and ducks feeding land, and build stoves around the site of Miyagi. It can reflect the lack of supplies and the way of life in military dependent village to overcome difficulties.

When coming here, people usually visit Chang Yu-Sheng Memorial Hall at first. The famous Taiwan artists and creative genius Chang Yu-Sheng was born in Duxingshi Village, Penghu, where established the Chang Yu-Sheng Memorial Hall according to details of Chang Yu-Sheng's house. The memorial hall exhibited Chang Yu-Sheng’s growth trace, including the old photos about his childhood, college awards, diplomas, manuscripts, and Chang Yu-Sheng’s all issued tapes, CD, and etc. And there plays Chang Yu-Sheng’s MV, as a form for tourists to miss him.

In addition, behind Chang Yu-Sheng Memorial Hall near the ocean, it is the residence of the artist Pan An-Bang. Some young friends may ask who Pan An-Bang is. But as long as the melody of “Grandma’s Penghu Bay” rises, I believe it is catchy for most friends! Even friends in the mainland must mention this song as long as Penghu is mentioned! Pan An-Bang was the lead singer of this song, and in the same way, the Pan An-Bang Memorial Hall is also arranged according to Pan An-Bang’s residence, where there collected Pan An-Bang’ photos, manuscripts, and rare records, tapes and so on. As long as you come here, the memorable song of “Grandma's Penghu Bay” seems to sound in the ear.

In addition, Duxingshi Village is also called “commander’s military dependent village”, because at that time, the households living in here were mostly high-class military dependents. For this reason, after careful observation of the residents here, you can find that there are divisions of high and low classes: high-class officers were assigned to single-family houses, and general military dependents were assigned to the previously mentioned merger-style houses. The houses of high-class military officer rises at the bottom, accompanied by a Japanese-style tile roof, and there are living room, kitchen, bathroom, corridor and courtyard, with a standard Japanese-style architecture flavor some of them also set chimney, different from general houses, which is also one of the architectural features.

In addition to the familiar Chang Yu-Sheng and Pan An-Bang, Duxingshi Village was also the hometown of well-known Taiwanese artists Hu Jin, Hu Jun and Zhao Shun. Four years ago when all village residents moved to Dragon Village, the Pan An-Bang specially flew back to Penghu to see his hometown.