Abstract
This paper is in three parts: ＂interviews on Ceng Qiu-tao''''''''s families and disciples,＂ ＂Ceng Qiu-tao and his disciples in Lai-yi and Yu-liao Poetry Societies,＂ and ＂Selections of Ceng Qiu-tao''''''''s poems,＂ which are the outcome of field research in my project ＂Talents and Intellectuals outside Zhu Qian City: Literati''''''''s Activities in Zhubei Area during the period between Ports-Opened-for-Trade in the Late Qing Dynasty and the mid-Japanese Colonial Period and Network Investigation Project,＂ a project affiliated with the University System of Taiwan Hakka Research Project. Ceng Qiu-tao (1890-1956), born in Kyuminato Village, Shinchiku District (now Congyi Village, Zhubei City), was originally from Quanzhou, Fujian. The Ceng Family migrated to Taiwan during the period 1622-1722. Between 1795 and 1850, they became wealthy farmers in the northern Zhu Qian Area. Ceng Qiu-tao had been a disciple of Ceng Feng-chen and Zhen Jia-zhen and a member of Hsinchu Poetry Society and Gengxin Poetry Society. He devoted himself to Chinese language education through his whole life. During the Japanese Colonial Period and the Postwar Era, Ceng Qiu-tao served as a teacher in Ya-yi Academy, Higashi Yama, Liu-ye Academy, and San-sheng School respectively for more than 40 years. He trained more than a thousand disciples. Ceng Qiu-tao founded Lai-yi Poetry Society in 1928 and Yu-liao Poetry Society in 1931, and became the founding father of the local poetry societies in the Zhubei Area. In 1937, his nephew (also his disciple), Ceng Wen-xin, founded ＂Chu She＂ on the basis of these societies with Ceng''''''''s others disciples.