Cicheng Ancient Architectural Complex

Cicheng Ancient Architectural Complex

The Cicheng Ancient Architectural Complex is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Cicheng Ancient Architectural Complex is located in Cicheng Town, Jiangbei District, Ningbo City — a nationally recognized historical and cultural town in China.

Cicheng is one of the few well-preserved county towns in the Jiangnan region, maintaining an intact traditional way of life. Among its preserved architecture are not only numerous residential buildings but also public structures and constructions such as Confucian temples, guildhalls, memorial archways, and ancient wells.

The Cicheng Ancient Architectural Complex preserves a large number of ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties, including ancestral halls such as the Liu Family Ancestral Hall; residences such as the Jiadi Family Mansion, Danai Hall, Buzheng House, Yao Mo Residence, Fu Character Gate, Osmanthus Hall, Feng Yue Painted Archway, and Mo Prince’s Mansion; memorial archways such as the Dongguan Archway, Chastity Archway, and Shien Archway; as well as Pengshan Pagoda and the Confucian Temple, among others. The architectural complex features rational planning, compact layout, refined materials, and exquisite carvings, embodying the distinctive architectural style of eastern Zhejiang.

The Cicheng Ancient Architectural Complex provides important examples for the study of regional residential architecture in eastern Zhejiang. In 2006, as ancient architecture from the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was listed by the State Council in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

1. Cheng Family Qingyu Hall

Cheng Family Qingyu Hall is located at No. 7 Chayuan Lane in the northeast corner of Cicheng Town, with the main structure facing south and the entrance gate facing east and slightly south. The ancestral hall was built during the Qing Qianlong period by Cheng Jiaguo, a descendant of the Cheng family. The surviving structures consist of the entrance gate, the main hall, and a stele inscribed with “Record of the Construction of Cheng Family Qingyu Hall” standing on the eastern wall under the corridor of the side rooms. The building covers an area of approximately 300 square meters.

This structure was designated as a district-level cultural relics protection unit in May 1986, and was elevated to a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit in August 1997.

The main hall has five bays, a flush gable roof, and a central bay with a post-and-lintel system. It is four bays deep with eight purlins, featuring a double-step beam behind the rear column. The front eave corridor is a boat-shaped canopy, with a bearing beam adorned with two sitting brackets, featuring crossed brackets that support the spandrels and canopy beams. The front end of the bearing beam extends forward from the eave column in the shape of an elephant trunk.

The entrance gate faces east, is two bays wide and two bays deep, with a sealed eave wall at the front, resting on a stone Sumeru pedestal. The front and rear of the central column feature bearing beams and through-beams with carved patterns.

2. Danai Hall

Danai Hall is located in the northwest corner of Cicheng Town, at No. 5 Sanmin Road. The surviving structure faces south, consisting of a three-bay main hall and two single-story east-wing rooms, forming an official residence from the early Ming dynasty. The hall is three bays wide and eleven bays deep, with a width of 13.87 meters and a total depth of 15.54 meters, featuring a flush gable roof. The central bay has a central column, with single-step and double-step beams arranged in front and behind. The front eave corridor is a boat-shaped canopy with a bearing beam. The east-wing rooms are five bays wide from north to south, four bays deep from east to west, with surrounding corridors, and the upper eaves at the north and south ends are designed in the hip-and-gable style.

It was designated as a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit in December 1981, and elevated to a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit in August 1997.

Currently, Danai Hall largely retains its original appearance and is one of the taller surviving wooden structures from the early Ming dynasty in the city.

3. Dongguan Archway

Dongguan Archway is located at No. 26 Minzhu Road, Cicheng Town, just one meter apart from the Enrong Archway. It faces west and was erected for Zhao Lai, a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) of the Hongzhi era (1499) and an official of the Ministry of Works. The single-bay, double-column stone archway is 3.56 meters wide and 4.3 meters high (partially damaged), with square columns featuring slightly rounded corners. The architrave is intricately carved in high relief with motifs such as peacocks, peonies, magpies, lotuses, flames, qilins, flaming pearls, clouds, and scrolling vines, with the ridge ends curled slightly into dragon shapes.

It was designated as a district-level cultural relics protection unit in 1986 and elevated to a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit in 1987.

4. Enrong Archway

Enrong Archway is located at No. 26 Minzhu Road, Cicheng Town. This memorial archway is a single-bay, double-column stone structure with two stories, facing west. Built in the 41st year of the Qing Qianlong reign (1776) by Xiang Hengsheng in honor of his grandfather, the military general Xiang Tengjiao, it is 2.92 meters wide and 6.49 meters tall, featuring a hip-and-gable roof with ridge beasts, upper and lower architraves, a fixed beam, and four rows of bracket sets, with a horizontal plaque at the center. The architrave features high-relief or openwork carvings of motifs such as dragons chasing pearls, lions playing with balls, clouds, bats, ganoderma, lotus flowers, and scrolling vines.

It was designated as a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit in December 1981 and elevated to a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit in August 1997.

5. Fang Family Brick-Carved Archway

The Fang Residence is located at No. 6 Zhangjiayuan in the southeast corner of Cicheng Town’s urban area, and is a Qing dynasty residential building. The entire structure faces south, consisting of an archway, a main building, left and right wing rooms, and two rear buildings. The site covers an area of about 1,423 square meters. The archway is made of brick, grand in scale, topped with tubular tiles and drip tiles, featuring square flying eaves with brackets at the top. There are six bracket sets across the surface. The brick-carved archway is rich in content and exquisitely crafted. The main building has five bays with two side rooms, a double-eave flush gable roof, and corridors in the front and rear. The front corridor is a boat-shaped canopy. The central bay features a mixed post-and-lintel and beam-raising structure, with the central column extending to the ground and double-step beams in both front and rear sections, along with another set of double-step beams, resulting in a seven-column, ten-purlin depth.

This residence was designated as a district-level cultural relics protection unit in 1986 and elevated to a provincial-level protection unit in 1997.

6. Osmanthus Hall

Osmanthus Hall is located at the intersection of Minzu Road, slightly west of the center of Cicheng Town. This residence was once the home of a prominent Liu family from Cixi during the Ming dynasty. The house faces south, with the main entrance also on the south side. Its layout includes a reverse house, front hall, central room, rear building, and left and right wing rooms. To the east of the reverse house and directly south of the east wing room is the archway, with two stone lions in front. Directly north of the archway there was once a screen wall, but both the archway, front hall, and screen wall have now been destroyed. The rear building and west wing room have undergone varying degrees of alteration, but the central room remains in its original form. The central room is three bays wide, with a flush gable roof, a front corridor, a central column, and double-step beams in both front and rear sections. The rear double-step beams use a combination of beam-raising and post-and-lintel structures, with a seven-column, ten-purlin depth. The front eave columns are slightly rounded, and partition walls are framed with reed-core wooden strips and coated with mud plaster.

This building was designated as a district-level cultural relics protection unit in May 1986 and listed as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit in August 1997.

7. Liu Family Ancestral Hall

The Liu Family Ancestral Hall is located at No. 3 Liujia Lane, Zhongminzu Road, Cicheng Town. It served as the ancestral temple of the prominent Liu clan in Cixi during the Ming Dynasty. The surviving structure faces south, features three bays, and has a flush gable roof. Its beams are tall and span nine bays, supported by ten purlins. The central bay uses a post-and-lintel system with five crossbeams, featuring bracket arms beneath the top beams, along with bracket sets (ping shen ke) — three on the central bay and two on the side bays. The lower edges of the mushroom columns have round, tongue-shaped drum-like bases. A stone stele inscribed with “In Obedience to Imperial Decree: Permanently Preserve Sacrificial Property and Exempt from Labor Duties” dated to the ninth year of the Jiajing reign (1530) is embedded in the northeastern gable wall. The building covers an area of approximately 213 square meters.

It was designated as a district-level cultural heritage site in 1986 and upgraded to a provincial-level cultural heritage site in 1997.

8. Prince Mo’s Residence

Prince Mo’s Residence is situated at No. 25 Mojia Lane in central Cicheng Town. The structure faces south and currently consists of a main hall with five bays, a flush gable roof, and a front porch. The upper parts of the eave columns feature a single bracket supporting the embracing beam. The overall structure is relatively simple. The central column in the main bay reaches the ground. There is one double-beam set both in the front and rear sections. The rear has a single step and the front has a double step, spanning eight columns and eleven purlins. The building occupies an area of about 390 square meters.

This structure was listed as a district-level cultural heritage site in 1986 and elevated to a provincial-level protected site in 1997.

9. Shien Archway

The Shien Archway is located at the southern entrance of Yongming Road in the western part of Cicheng Town. Facing south, this Ming Dynasty mid-period archway commemorating a successful imperial examination candidate is a three-bay structure. The central bay has a remaining height of 5.92 meters, while the side bays are 4.46 meters tall. Both the front and back are intricately carved using high relief and openwork techniques, creating vivid and lifelike images. The large stones used are exquisitely crafted. The central beam on both sides is inscribed with texts such as “Zhengtong Year Wu Chen, Imperial Scholar Zhou Xiang,” “Zhengde Year Gui You, Imperial Scholar Zhou Wenjin, Jiajing Year Ren Chen, Imperial Scholar Zhou Hao,” among others. The archway is richly decorated with carvings including the phoenix facing the sun, two lions playing with a ball, two dragons competing for a pearl, phoenixes and peonies, white cranes with six colors, qilin, and scroll motifs. Among the existing memorial archways in Cicheng, this one features the most elaborate carvings.

It was designated as a district-level cultural heritage site in 1986 and upgraded to a provincial-level protected site in 1997.

10. Xiang Residence

The Xiang Residence is located at No. 70 Minzhu Road in the northwest corner of Cicheng Town. Originally the home of Xiang Hengsheng, a descendant of Xiang Minzhong, the Right Vice Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs during the Northern Song Dynasty, the residence faces south and consists of a screen hall, main hall, east and west wing rooms forming a courtyard, with the entrance hall located to the right of the screen hall. The front ends of the two wing rooms feature five-ridged gable walls. The main hall has three bays and uses a mixed post-and-lintel and Dougong (bracketing) structural system, spanning seven columns and ten purlins, with a central column. It has a front porch, and the beams and other components are elaborately carved with motifs such as cranes, blessings, prosperity, longevity, scroll patterns, antique designs, and figures. The inverted hall and the two wing rooms still retain vertical flat tiles as roof ridges. The house showcases fine carvings in wood, stone, and brick, with an intact layout.

It was listed as a district-level cultural heritage site in 1986 and promoted to a provincial-level protected site in August 1997.

11. Former Residence of Yao Mo

The former residence of Yao Mo is located at No. 16 Minzu Road in Cicheng Town. The existing structure, which faces south (slightly west), was the home of Yao Mo, Minister of War during the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty. The rear section consists of three rooms and two corridors, with a flush gable roof and double eaves. It has a front porch, with small chamfered eave columns and wooden column bases, while the rest are drum-shaped. The partition walls are made with bamboo cores coated in a mixture of chaff and mud. The central bay uses a mixed Dougong and post-and-lintel structure with a central column that reaches the ground. Each of the front and rear sections has a double-beam set, spanning seven columns and nine purlins, and the building materials are quite substantial.

It was designated as a district-level cultural heritage site in 1986 and elevated to a provincial-level protected site in 1997.

12. Chastity Archway

The Chastity Archway is located at the eastern entrance of Zhongshang Road in Cicheng Town, Jiangbei District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, specifically at No. 4 Zhongshang Road. It was erected in honor of Madam Liu, wife of Juren (successful candidate in the imperial examination at the provincial level) Fengzan from the Jiajing Year of the Ming Dynasty, and was built during the Wanli era. The archway faces south, has a single bay, and is 2.98 meters wide with columns 4.12 meters high. It employs skilled high relief and openwork carving techniques, with realistic and refined shapes, making it the best-preserved stone archway in the ancient town.

The archway is largely well preserved. It was listed as a district-level cultural heritage site in May 1986 and promoted to a provincial-level protected site in August 1997.

The gatehouse has a flush gable roof, a single bay, and double doors. It features a front flying eave with eave purlins, spans two columns and four purlins, and includes a rear double-beam set with a Dougong beneath. The front has five bracket sets under the ridge purlin, and the sides of the gate are adorned with square brick screens.

The plate beam is carved with scroll patterns, while the lower edge features lotus petal carvings. The upper beam on the southern side depicts two dragons competing for a pearl, the lower beam shows two lions playing with a ball with a dragon head on each side, and the central beam is inscribed with text commemorating Madam Liu, the wife of Fengzan, a Jiajing Year Zhushen (successful candidate in the metropolitan examination) from Shuntian, as honored by the gate.

Scenic Location

Cicheng Town, Jiangbei District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units

Confucius Temple of Cicheng

Fu Character Gatehead

Provincial Governor’s Mansion

Feng Yue Painted Gate

Feng Residence

The First-Ranked Family Mansion