Chen Clan Ancestral Hall and Stone Carvings

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall and Stone Carvings

The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall and Stone Carvings are a cultural heritage site protected by Haishu District.

The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall and Stone Carvings are located in Xiyanggang Natural Village, Xiyanggang Village, Gulin Town, Haishu District. Originally built in the 13th year of the Hongwu reign during the Ming Dynasty (1380), the site has undergone multiple renovations from the Qing Dynasty to the present, with the current structure being a reconstruction from the Qing period. The main complex faces south and features a courtyard-style layout, comprising a front hall, main hall, east and west wing rooms, and a stage, with the stone carvings placed behind the ancestral hall.

The outer walls of the entire ancestral hall feature flush gable roofs. The front hall is seven bays wide and three rafters deep with seven purlins, using a post-and-lintel construction method. The stage is located at the rear of the central bay of the front hall, featuring a single-eave hip-and-gable roof and an interior caisson ceiling. The main hall is also seven bays wide, with the central bay utilizing a raised-beam structure with five spans, featuring a rolled shed roof in the front and double-step beams in the back. The side bays use central columns, with a depth of six rafters over ten purlins, while the end bays are seven rafters over ten purlins deep. The wing rooms are located on either side of the courtyard, each two bays wide, and also use a raised-beam structure. Stone tablets are mounted on the outer walls of the wing rooms, inscribed in the 4th year of the Daoguang reign and the 8th year of the Tongzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty. The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall retains a complete layout, with exquisitely carved decorative elements such as bracket arms and spandrels, giving it certain cultural heritage value. It was designated as a district-level cultural heritage protection site together with the stone carvings in September 2007, became the ninth batch of district-level protected sites in Yinzhou District in September 2010, and was transferred to Haishu District in 2016 following the adjustment of Ningbo’s administrative divisions.

Source: Haishu District Cultural Relics Management Office

Gulin Town: Also known as Huanggulin, Gulin is a world-renowned hometown of woven mats and one of the four major historic towns in Yinzhou. Situated upstream of the Yong River, Yao River, and Fenghua River, Gulin borders downtown Ningbo to the east, is adjacent to Ningbo Lishe Airport to the south, and is traversed by the Hangzhou–Ningbo Expressway and Yinxian Avenue. Duanmei Road runs east-west through the area, with a crisscrossing network of waterways that typify the Jiangnan water town scenery. In January 1986, Gulin Township was renamed Gulin Town. In May 1992, as part of a district dissolution and town expansion initiative, the former Gulin, Buzheng, and Shenjiao townships were merged to form the new Gulin Town. Currently, the town covers an administrative area of... More details about Gulin Town++