The Dijiao Wang Ancestral Hall and Shiměi Memorial Archway

The Dijiao Wang Ancestral Hall and Shiměi Memorial Archway

The Dijiao Wang Ancestral Hall and Shiměi Memorial Archway are cultural heritage sites protected at the provincial level in Zhejiang Province.

The Dijiao Wang Ancestral Hall, also known as the Xianliang Ancestral Hall, is a Qing Dynasty building. It is situated in Dijiao Village, Dong’an Township, merely meters from the Shiměi Memorial Archway. The hall faces west and has three sections (courtyards), covering an area of 852 square meters. The front section features upturned wing corners on the rear eaves, with bracket arms (dougong) supporting the overhanging eaves of both upper and lower roofs. The middle section has five bays, with a total width of 21 meters and a depth of 15 meters. The central bay has a nine-rafter structure with front and rear corridors, the crossbeams are shaped like winter melons, and two sets of bracket sets (dougong) support the three-rafter beams above, while the single-step beam is decorated with a fish-like motif. The central and rear sections have connecting corridors in the central bays, adorned with octagonal caisson ceilings. The column bases come in two styles: drum-shaped and square prism-shaped. The largest diameter of the drum-shaped bases is at the shoulder, supported by inverted basins. In front of the main gate, there are three pairs of flagpole stones and one pair of stone lions. The roof is of the flush-gable type. Main features of the structure include:

First, its relatively large scale; second, the use of thick and sturdy beams and columns; third, the delicate wood carvings; and fourth, its relatively well-preserved condition.

On April 20, 2001, the county government designated it as a county-level cultural heritage site.

The Shiměi Memorial Archway is located in Dijiao Village, Dong’an Township. Initially built during the Song Dynasty, it was reconstructed in the 17th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1538). In 1988, the county cultural relics department carried out partial repairs, and the archway is now largely intact.

According to the Guangxu-era “Changshan County Annals,” it states: “The Shiměi Memorial Archway, located in Shangyuan to the east of the county, was erected in honor of the Wang family’s successive successful imperial examinations.” Even today, among the local people in the Jinyuan area, the saying of the “Wang family producing nine jinshi (successful imperial examination candidates)” is still passed down. The horizontal inscribed board of the archway bears 160-plus characters in clerical-style running script, including the names of notable historical figures of the Wang family such as “Guanglu Grand Master Wang Yan, Secretariat Proofreader Wang Jie, Ministry of War Vice Minister Wang Hanzhi, Academician Lecturer Wang ?W (pronounced Yan)zhi, Ministry of Personnel Vice Minister Wang Huanzhi, Imperial Examination Juren Wang Tianxi of the Longxing era, and Academician of Weiyou Pavilion Wang Yifei,” as well as the year of reconstruction. Additionally, various historical documents confirm that during the Song Dynasty, the Wang family indeed produced many pillars of the nation. The central horizontal board is inscribed with the two characters “Shiměi” (meaning “Beautiful Legacy”) in regular-script clerical style, with clear engravings.

The archway is a two-pillar, three-story stone gate structure, standing 6.5 meters tall with a span of 4 meters between the two pillars. The square pillars are slightly chamfered, each supported by two 2.5-meter-high floral-shaped corner blocks, with strip-shaped column bases. The smaller horizontal beam is moon-shaped, with bracket arms (dougong) at both ends. The upper story features two sets of bracket sets (dougong), as do the column tops, and the main ridge is adorned with a chiwen (mythical animal ornament). The archway has a solemn and classic style, reflecting distinct characteristics of its time.

On August 11, 1986, the county government designated it as a county-level cultural heritage site.

On January 7, 2011, the Shiměi Memorial Archway and the Dijiao Wang Ancestral Hall were jointly announced by the provincial government as part of the sixth batch of provincial-level cultural heritage sites.

Dijiao Village: Located in the Shangyuan Town area, Dijiao Village comprises 2 natural villages, 12 villager groups, 191 households, and a total population of 573 people, including 31 Party members. The village has a total of 2,630 mu of agricultural land, including 274 mu of paddy fields and 1,884 mu of forestland. The village's pillar industry is the pomelo (youpu) cultivation, with 180 households engaged in pomelo farming. In addition, the village has developed aquaculture and processing industries, currently hosting 2 pig farming households, 2 centralized processing workshops, and involving over 120 people. In 2009, the village’s total economic income was 5.8 million yuan, with a per capita income of 4,394 yuan. … Dijiao Village detailed information++

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Sites