Pingshan Ancestral Stone

Pingshan Ancestral Stone

The Pingshan Ancestral Stone is a cultural relic protected at the district level in Lianyungang District.

Pingshan Ancestral Stone (Ming Dynasty)

The Pingshan Ancestral Stone is located at the southern end of Huangmuzhuang in Pingshan Community, Yunshan Subdistrict, Lianyungang District, northwest of Donggang Middle School, and faces the Wuyang Lake Plain, with the southwestern foothills of Yuntai Mountain to its north.

The stone carving stands 1.66 meters tall. Its upper part, the “0-” section, is 0.43 meters long with an outer diameter of 97 centimeters. It is thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom. The lower part is a slightly square-shaped column with rounded edges, standing 1.22 meters tall. At the junction where the “0-” connects to the stone pillar, the “0-” protrudes with a blunt, flat tip and features a groove that is 2.2 centimeters deep. In its entirety, it closely resembles the external male genitalia of an adult male. This stone pillar is academically referred to as a “Shizu” or “Ancestral Stone.” It is a cultural relic from primitive society related to worship, especially reproductive and sexual worship—a legacy of life culture. This custom dates back 6,000 years. Ancestor worship began in the later period of primitive society when social productivity was very low, and humans urgently needed to strengthen their ability to survive and thrive in their struggle against nature, particularly in terms of human reproduction. As a result, reproductive worship became an original form of religion, gradually establishing the life culture phenomenon of male reproductive worship. Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, this has been popular in the eastern coastal regions. The two Ancestral Stones in Pingshan are artifacts from the Ming Dynasty. Local residents believed that worshiping the ancestral stone could cure infertility, so they often burned incense and worshipped on odd-numbered days such as the third day of the first lunar month.

Yunshan Subdistrict: Yunshan Subdistrict, Lianyungang District, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province

Yunshan Subdistrict is situated at the southern foot of North Yuntai Mountain. It borders the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant to the east, connects to Xingangcheng Avenue to the west, and neighbors the Municipal Development Zone to the south. Stretching 11 kilometers from east to west in a strip-like formation, it covers an area of 19.36 square kilometers. The subdistrict administers five administrative villages: Pingshan, Laojuntang, Lizhuang, Baiguo Tree, and Huangya. The Party Working Committee and the Subdistrict Office are located in Lizhuang. The subdistrict has a total of 2,562 households and 8,344 residents, including 5,630 agricultural residents. The labor force is mainly engaged in secondary industries, construction and transportation, as well as the planting and processing of agricultural and sideline products. … More detailed information about Yunshan Subdistrict ++

Further Reading:

· First Batch of District-Level Cultural Relics Protection Units in Lianyungang District