Leshantang

Leshantang

Leshantang, also known as the "Hall of the Elderly," is a two-courtyard, three-bay hall structure built with brick and wood. Constructed in the mid-Ming Dynasty, it served as a branch ancestral hall for one of the Wang clan lineages and was historically used as a place for elders to socialize and hold discussions.

The hall is a uniform single-story flat-roofed structure with a post-and-lintel wooden frame that employs the "chèmíngzào" (fully exposed rafters) method. It is constructed with blue bricks and gray tiles, featuring support tiles laid beneath the roof surface and Huizhou-style horse-head walls. The wooden framework inside the hall uses large-dimension timber, with gracefully tapered columns and arched beams of substantial cross-section. The column bases are shaped like inverted basins. The central bay employs a reduced-column construction method, with a five-purlin beam placed between the inner columns to enlarge the interior space. The cap blocks under the bracket arms are shaped like lotus petals. Between the outer columns and the inner columns, arched beams are used, with camel humps mounted on top, supporting bracket blocks; the bracket arms carry single-step beams, the outer ends of which are carved with cloud motifs. The floor is paved with large square bricks. There is also a small pond in the side hall.

Leshantang embodies both the solemnity of a traditional hall and the warmth suited for family gatherings, making it a quintessential example of Ming Dynasty hall architecture.