North Bank Wu Clan Ancestral Hall

North Bank Wu Clan Ancestral Hall

The North Bank Wu Clan Ancestral Hall is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Era: Qing Dynasty

Address: Beian, She County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province

This ancestral hall is a Han Chinese clan temple building originally constructed during the Qing Dynasty. It served as a site for worshipping ancestors and revered sages of the Han people. Located in Beian Village, She County, it was built in 1826. The ancestral hall serves as a bond that unites the bloodlines and emotions of the Han people. As a symbol and hallmark of the long history and traditional culture of the Han ethnicity, it holds unparalleled influence and historical value.

The structure consists of three bays and three courtyards. The entrance hall features a five-phoenix-style roof, with exquisitely carved stone bases in the shape of an eight-character wall, brick carvings beneath the eaves, and elaborately carved wooden spandrel panels. The central courtyard's main hall boasts robust and grand moon-reporting beams and golden pillars. In front of the eave pillars are stone railings made of "Yi County green" stone, with carved stone lions atop the balusters and delicate carvings of West Lake scenery on the railing panels, all executed with refined elegance. The platform of the rear hall is fronted by stone railings connected to the stepped stone railings on both sides. The railing panels in front of the rear hall feature a panoramic carving of the "Hundred Deer Picture," depicting deer hidden among wooded hills in various lively poses, vividly rendered. The rear corridor of the central courtyard is enclosed by 13 railing panels, with stone lions adorning the balusters and ritual vessels intricately carved onto the panels, all of exceptional craftsmanship. Below is a water storage pool. On the right wall of the rear hall is a brick-carved shrine, designed in the style of a three-bay hall, with exquisitely detailed carvings that fully demonstrate the superb craftsmanship and perfect artistic forms of ancient Han artisans—this is a crystallization of the wisdom and artistry of the Han laboring people. On the left wall is vertically inlaid a stone stele inscribed with the record of the hall’s renovation. It is now a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Protected Area: 10 meters to the east and north outside the ancestral hall foundation, extending to the west wall of the small branch ancestral hall to the west, and to the river embankment to the south.

Construction Control Zone: 50 meters beyond the protected area to the east, north, and west, and to the opposite bank of the small river to the south.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units