Duling Yuting Hall

Duling Yuting Hall

Duling Yuting Hall is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Period: Ming to Qing Dynasties

Address: Duyi Administrative Village, Duling Village, Nubu Subdistrict, Lanxi City, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province

The hall was built during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty, faces west, and features a layout of three courtyards and one connecting hallway. A pair of Ming Dynasty stone lions remains in front of the building, which covers a total area of about 860 square meters.

This ancestral hall was constructed in the 55th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1790) by Cheng Jiahe, a descendant of the Northern Song philosophers, educators, and founders of Neo-Confucianism, Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao. A stone stele titled “Record of the Construction of the Cheng Family Yuting Hall,” erected in the 55th year of Qianlong (1790), is embedded in the corridor wall on the east side. The stele is 189 cm tall and 74.5 cm wide, explaining that Cheng Jiahe, a descendant of the Cheng family, “abandoned the pursuit of scholarly honors, sought profit through modest trade, and built this ancestral hall to honor his forebears during a time of family prosperity.” The structure is a traditional three-courtyard compound, with the entrance gatehouse located to the east, and the main hall facing south with five bays. The central bay features a post-and-lintel roof system supported by five-purlin beams and flat purlins, complete with auxiliary purlin beams. The front porch has a raised roof section (xuan), and the beam heads are shaped like elephant trunks. The four front eave columns are melon-shaped, adorned with carved floral brackets. The xuan and gatehouse are decorated with scrollwork, double-dragon motifs, and the character for longevity (shou). The overall layout remains intact, the structure is well-preserved, and the inscribed stele documents the construction history, making it a representative example of late Qianlong-era ancestral halls.

It was designated as a Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit on March 16, 2005, and listed as part of the seventh group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units in May 2013.

Duling Village: Yuting Hall, located in Duling Village, Nubu Subdistrict, Lanxi City. Duling is the hometown of Zhang Mao, a renowned scholar, educator, and Minister of Rites in the Ming Dynasty. Yuting Hall, commonly known as the Upper Hall, is a Ming Dynasty structure with three courtyards, oriented east-facing and slightly south. The main hall has three bays, with a total width of 16 meters and depth of 10.6 meters. The central bay features nine rafters with double steps both front and back, with slightly tilted columns, curved column tops, and round loutous supporting beams that extend two cantilevers along the rafter direction. Both the central and side bays have two sets of bracket sets. The single-step beam is shaped like a fish’s head. The moon beams are joined together with rectangular cross-sections. The connecting hallway includes a caisson ceiling. Ming Dynasty stone lions still stand beside the hall. Built during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty, it consists of three bays across three courtyards… More details about Duling Village++

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units