Huaiyin Hall

Huaiyin Hall

Huaiyin Hall is located in Yangwan Town, Dongshan, Suzhou.

The exact date of its construction and the surname of its original owner remain unknown, but the overall architectural style bears resemblance to the Ruiyun Tower of the “Qiu Guan Di,” reflecting the architectural characteristics of the mid-Ming Dynasty. A relatively well-preserved section of Ming Dynasty architecture remains today, including: the gate tower, three residential rooms, and symmetrically arranged wing rooms, among others. The overall layout of the building is extremely compact.

Gate Tower: It is a simple, strip-ridged gate tower with unadorned brick carvings, small in scale and low in height. There is a small screen wall on top of the gate tower. Except for the decorative borders around the frame posts, the rest has been finished with a plain plaster technique. Below the screen wall, there is a brick carving resembling a “Guijiao” (a type of base), divided into three floral patterns — the middle one longer, the two ends shorter — depicting folded branches of ganoderma flowers. The brick carvings feature deep and smooth lines.

The upper floor is the highlight of the building. The room is three bays wide and seven rafters deep, with a total depth of 7 meters. The beam structure is of the post-and-lintel style. Between the central and side bays, two king posts are installed. The bases of the king posts are flat drum-shaped wooden pedestals, made from relatively thick timber, tapering slightly at the top, with column heads featuring entasis. They are topped with seat brackets and have ang-type bracket arms, supporting the four-rafter beams. Above them are bracket sets called “baixianpai” and “zhuazi.” The entire structure is quite refined. The horizontal beams on the floor are relatively simple in design, and the painted decoration is also quite understated. The purlins and the king posts are connected to the columns using diagonal bracing. The purlins, diagonal bracing, and columns are adorned with net-patterned spandrel panels. The entire diagonal bracing is exquisitely crafted.

The eaves on the lower floor extend far out. The column tops support diagonal braces that hold up the overhanging square beams and purlins. The design of the diagonal braces is rather distinctive: starting from the column tops, there are two upward-curving ang-type bracket arms, supporting a “shuatou” (a decorative bracket end) adorned with hemp-leaf cloud motifs, which in turn supports the angled wooden brace. This brace is decorated with crabapple curve patterns, with a small bracket at the top supporting the hemp-leaf cloud shuatou, followed by a lotus-petal base and a one-dou-three-rise bracket arm, which holds the replacement timber and the overhanging purlin. Between the purlins, angled braces, and columns, there are net-patterned filler panels. The entire diagonal brace assembly is very finely made.

Dongshan Town: Located southwest of Suzhou and 37 kilometers from the ancient city of Suzhou, Dongshan Town is a shining pearl on the shores of Taihu Lake. The town covers a total area of 96.55 square kilometers, governs 13 villages (communities), and has a permanent population of 54,000. Surrounded by water on three sides, Dongshan enjoys a pleasant climate and abundant natural resources. It is a renowned fruit and flower mountain as well as a land of fish and rice, celebrated as the “Hometown of Biluochun Tea” and the “Hometown of Taihu Crabs” in China. Biluochun tea, White Sand loquats, Black Purple bayberries, Taihu hairy crabs, various premium vegetables, and high-quality Taihu aquatic products are available year-round. “There are fruits in every season, flowers every month…” More details about Dongshan Town ++

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units