Gongshi Memorial Archway

Gongshi Memorial Archway

The Gongshi Memorial Archway is located in the ancient village of Yantou and is the grandest and largest structure of its kind along the Nanxi River. Legend has it that in the upper village of Yantou Town, in the 44th year of the Jiajing era of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty (1565), Jin Zhao from Yantou village passed the imperial examination as a Jinshi (advanced scholar). He was promoted from Vice Minister of the Left and Right Courts of the Grand Court of Revision to Prefect of Duanzhou. During the Jiajing era, he was granted permission by Emperor Shizong to erect this archway, which stands on the left side of the main entrance to the Jin Clan’s Grand Ancestral Hall.

The archway has a horizontally rectangular floor plan and is a three-bay, four-pillar wooden structure, standing 7.63 meters tall and 9.90 meters wide, with a total depth of 2.35 meters. The two central pillars are square stone columns, while the two side pillars are wooden. The materials used are robust, with the column tops slightly beveled.

Stone drum-shaped pedestals are placed at the front and back bases of the pillars, and the pillar foundations are of the inverted basin style. On both outer sides of the archway stand four-cornered columns. Both the central and side bays are equipped with lintels, secondary beams, and transverse tie beams, each adorned with spandrels and bracket arms. Plaques are hung on the front and back of the main beam. The bracket arms are sturdy, neat, and exquisitely crafted.

The roof ridges are built with thin bricks to form a clear-glazed floral ridge, with carvings of ruyi (auspicious) flowers and plants on the surface. The ends of the central bay’s roof ridge are decorated with dragon head ornaments, while those of the side bays feature phoenix head ornaments. The ends of the two downward-sloping ridges are adorned with flying phoenixes. It is considered one of the finest memorial archways in Wenzhou.