Lin’s Charitable Estate

Lin’s Charitable Estate

Lin’s Charitable Estate is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Lin’s Charitable Estate is located in Yangcuo Village, Jiaomei Town, Longhai City, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province.

In the 24th year of the Jiaqing reign (1819), Lin Pinghou, a resident of Jishang Village in Baishi Bao, became wealthy through land reclamation in Taiwan. Remembering the hardships of his fellow clansmen back home, he was determined to provide assistance. He chose a site at Tanzhou in Jishang Village to build Lin’s Charitable Estate. After nearly two years of construction, it was completed in the first year of the Daoguang reign (1821).

The estate covers an area of over 4,500 square meters, with 99 rooms and a built-up area of 2,500 square meters. It features a brick-and-timber structure with hanging gables and a traditional quadrangle layout. There are three sets of two-courtyard houses with single-eave, flush-gable roofs. The wooden beams, shrines, and other elements are exquisitely carved, making it one of the renowned charitable institutions in Fujian at the time. A stone stele inscribed with “Lin’s Charitable Estate” by Lü Shiyu of the Qing Dynasty is preserved on-site. The overall structure of the estate consists of three parallel, two-courtyard houses of Southern Fujian style, with a front section made of bricks and a long two-story building at the rear. It is flanked by symmetrical side wings that encircle the entire compound. Upon entering the estate, visitors are greeted by its neat, spacious, classical, and elegant layout. It is said that there was originally a rectangular, golden wooden plaque inscribed with “Yongze Hall,” which hung above the central house’s gate. Most of the low walls surrounding the estate have now collapsed. As a charitable building, it was considered a large-scale public welfare institution in the old society. Before the Anti-Japanese War, large quantities of rice and cotton cloth were shipped annually from Taiwan to provide support for impoverished members of the Lin clan in the Shiměi area, helping to alleviate their living difficulties and effectively contributing to social stability at the time.

The Lin’s Charitable Estate stele was embedded in the wall when the estate was completed in the first year of the Daoguang reign (1821). It consists of twelve finely polished dark stone slabs, measuring 3 meters in width and 1 meter in height. The inscription details Lin Pinghou’s journey to prosperity in Taiwan, the main process of establishing the estate to aid his fellow clansmen, the sources of funding for the relief efforts, the management personnel, and the rules governing the estate’s operations.

In 2006, as a Qing Dynasty architectural structure, Lin’s Charitable Estate was included in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units