This article combines field research and social documents to explore the relationship between maritime people and their society in Waipu, a village in northwestern Taiwan. By investigating Houlong society from the point of Waipu and the stone fish weir there, this article reexamines the construction of Houlong society during the Qing period. Previous scholars have focused on building and using stone fish weirs and discussed the construction of Houlong society from the perspective of Houlong township and port. This article, however, argues that the stone fish weirs shaped the landscape of Waipu and created obstacles for anchoring. Because of this littoral landscape, smuggling and illegal immigrants could not land on Waipu but on Gongsiliao, which became a vital smuggling trading port. To enlarge the scale and maintain the function of the stone fish weir, the maritime people of Waipu welcomed investments from other villages in Houlong. They also cooperated with people inside the Waipu village. These interactions eventually not only constructed the society of Houlong, especially the trans-village relationship, but also created religious stories in the entire Houlong. Taking the case of Waipu as an example, this article proposes a model of littoral society in Taiwan.
