Jianchi Ancestral Hall

Jianchi Ancestral Hall

Jianchi Ancestral Hall is a cultural relic protection unit of Xiangshan County.

The ancestral hall was solely funded and constructed by Kong Cuiqing, the widow of Chen Kongfang, over a period of ten years and completed in the 27th year of the Guangxu reign (1901). Designed with reference to the architectural styles of temples such as Tiantong and Guoqing, it was named after the 14th-generation ancestor of the Chen clan who migrated from Fujian to Xiangshan—Mao Ning Gong, whose alias was “Jianchi,” hence the name Jianchi Ancestral Hall, commonly referred to as the New Ancestral Hall. Covering an area of ten mu, the hall faces southwest by west, and is composed, from front to back, of the ancestral hall river (pool), screen wall, gate tower (with stage), main hall, and rear hall, featuring three courtyards and two entrances. The main hall has a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof, with each of its three bays wide and deep, using a nine-rafter structure with double-step beams front and back on all sides. A lower eave is added as a surrounding corridor, and at the center of the rear of the central bay, a hanging shrine enshrines the Heavenly Lord Tai Bai. The stage has a hip-and-gable roof. The rear hall consists of nine bays and is nine rafters deep, with the central and adjacent bays featuring exposed beams, serving as the space for shrines dedicated to ancestral tablets.

The ancestral hall is large in scale, built with high-quality materials, and richly decorated, integrating various crafts such as wood carving, stone carving, brick carving, relief modeling, and colored painting. To some extent, it reflects the exceptional architectural craftsmanship of folk artisans, making it the most prestigious ancestral hall among those in the county.

It is an important part of the ancient architectural complex of Dongchen Village.