The Yang Family Ancestral Hall in Qianshan

The Yang Family Ancestral Hall in Qianshan

The Yang Family Ancestral Hall in Qianshan is a cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.

The Yang Family Ancestral Hall is located in Zhongjian Group, Wanjian Village, Longtan Township, Qianshan County. It was first built in the early years of the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty. The architectural layout faces east and is built along a west-east axis, featuring a structure that appears to have three bays on the front but actually consists of five, comprising a front hall with a theater stage, a middle hall known as the "Sizhi Hall," and a rear hall bedroom, all aligned along one axis. The original structure covered an area of about 700 square meters; it underwent renovations in the 19th year of the Daoguang reign (1839 AD), the 3rd year of the Republic of China (1914 AD), and between 2004–2005. The current structure has evolved into a quadrangle complex that is 27.30 meters wide, 42.63 meters deep, and covers an area of approximately 1,164 square meters. Among its features, the single-eave hip-and-gable theater stage is the most renowned building within the ancestral hall, situated in the front hall. The stage has a two-story structure, with the main performance area on the second floor, approximately 2.8 meters above the ground, flanked by side rooms for performers. The stage itself is 5.5 meters wide and 6 meters deep, with a ceiling height of about 3 meters. The stage opening is adorned with carved railings, and the ceiling features a coffered dome. The structure employs a post-and-lintel method with bracket arms on the purlins to create flying beams, forming a three-purlin beam system, achieving the design goal of a visually open stage. The "Leader of Hui Troupes and Father of Peking Opera" Cheng Changgeng’s leading troupe, the Dashixi Troupe, performed many Peking opera plays on this stage, some of which were recorded with makeup pigments on the wall panels of the performers’ rooms—the ink marks of which can still be discerned today. In May 1998, the Yang Family Ancestral Hall was designated by the People's Government of Anhui Province as a fourth batch provincial-level key cultural relic protection unit.

Wanjian Village: Located near the northern part of the national scenic area "Tianzhu Mountain," Wanjian Village in Longtan Township borders Duxiang Village to the east, adjoins Tianzhu Mountain to the south, neighbors the "Tianzhu Forest Farm" to the west, and is adjacent to Longtan Village to the north. It spans a maximum width of 4.5 kilometers from east to west and 5 kilometers from north to south, covering a total area of 20 square kilometers. Surrounded by local communities, the village features flat terrain in the center, with an average elevation of 450 meters, representing a typical mountainous landscape.

Two rivers run through the village. One originates from the Datianmen area of Tianzhu Mountain, flowing through Ganhé, Shangjian, Zhongjian, and down to Xiajian. The other originates from the... More details about Wanjian Village++