The Liu Family Ancestral Hall

Liu Family Ancestral Hall

The Liu Family Ancestral Hall is a cultural tourism attraction.

This ancestral hall was once the residence of Liu Mian, an official of the Song Dynasty’s Court of Imperial Sacrifices, whose father was Chun’an. Descendants of four generations lived under one roof, making it the ancestral temple of the prominent Liu clan during the Ming Dynasty. The structure features three bays with lofty beams and a depth of nine bays supported by ten rafters.

The central bay uses a post-and-lintel system with a principal rafter beam, atop which sits a watermelon-shaped column supporting a three-rafter beam; in the middle is a ridge melon column, butterfly brackets, and all columns are sturdy. The three-rafter and five-rafter beams are elliptical in cross-section. The column tops are fitted with round blocks, featuring crossed bracket arms. In front of the principal bay, the first two bays use double-step beams with square blocks and crossed bracket arms, as well as single-step beams. Behind, the full columns and the outer eave columns are connected by double-step beams, square blocks with small character brackets, and single-step beams. Between the rear inner eave columns, the horizontal beams are all fitted with flat connecting beams. The side bays are supported by central columns. Under the beams, Dougong (bracket sets) are commonly used, especially wide ones beneath the three-rafter and five-rafter beams. The upper parts of the gable walls still retain simple yet distinctive curves. Some ancient-style roof tiles are also preserved (featuring several layers of wave patterns on top and yin-yang peach motifs below). The rafters are thick and sturdy, and the roof is of the flush-gable style with bead-shaped column bases. The largest column bases have their widest diameter in the middle. The bottom of the surrounding wall is built with strip stones, and there is a stone stele from the Jiajing era embedded in the northeast gable wall.

This ancestral hall is the only known example of Ming Dynasty ancestral architecture in Ningbo and serves as important material for the study of ancient buildings.