Ancestral Hall of the Fan Clan

Ancestral Hall of the Fan Clan

The Ancestral Hall of the Fan Clan is a Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Ancestral Hall of the Fan Clan (Provincial-level Cultural Relics Protection Unit)

Era: Qing Dynasty

Announcement Date: August 29, 1997

Located in Fan Village, Wuli Township. The hall faces south and has three courtyards with five bays, covering a total area of about 620 square meters. The central bay of the first courtyard features a plaque inscribed with "Ancestral Hall" above the main door, while the side bays have side doors. The rear eaves connect to a stage, which is 1.9 meters high and 6.56 meters wide, with an octagonal caisson ceiling. The second courtyard is 15.55 meters wide and 11.50 meters deep, featuring a flush gable roof, five-purlin beams with front and rear double-step covered corridors, and thick, large-scale timber materials used for main beams and pillars. A ceremonial pavilion connects the middle and rear courtyards; the pavilion has a double-eave hip-and-gable roof, while the rear courtyard features a double-eave tower with drum-shaped column bases. The eaves are equipped with water spouts.

Main Features of the Ancestral Hall:

1. The hall houses over a hundred pillars of various sizes. The beams, brackets, spandrels, dougong (bracket sets), and upturned eaves feature exquisitely carved brick and wood designs of dragons, phoenixes, lions, deer, pavilions, towers, flowers, and human figures. The lines are smooth, refined, and aesthetically pleasing. In particular, the 110 opera character motifs carved on the brick and wood components are uniquely shaped, lifelike, vividly expressive, and highly three-dimensional—fully demonstrating the architectural artistry of the time with distinct period characteristics.

2. It is an ancestral hall built with the stage at the front as the central layout. The stage consists of four parts: the performance area, passageway, dressing room, and viewing gallery. According to surveys, although some ancestral halls in Changshan County still feature this layout, few have such well-preserved stage structures. This clearly illustrates that staging operas in such ancestral halls was very popular among the local people of Changshan at the time. It also indicates that by at least the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, a fixed stage structure had already been established, making it highly representative.

On November 13, 1991, the County People's Government designated it as a County-level Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

In 1997, the Provincial People's Government listed it as part of the Fourth Batch of Provincial-level Cultural Relics Protection Units.

From 1999 to 2002, the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and financial authorities allocated funds for a comprehensive restoration.

Source: Zhejiang Cultural Relics Website

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units