Jitou Stone Memorial Archway Cluster

Jitou Stone Memorial Archway Cluster

The Jitou Stone Memorial Archway Cluster is a cultural relic protection unit of Fujian Province.

The Jitou Stone Memorial Archway Cluster is located on both sides of the ancient road that leads north from Jitou Village in Pingnan County to Shuangxi Town, the former county seat. The current highway runs about 100 meters north of the archways.

Commonly called Shifangcha, the site is said to have included 10 chastity memorial archways standing along the ancient road. The earliest was built in the 57th year of the Qianlong reign (1792), and the latest in the 14th year of the Guangxu reign (1888). There are two main styles: those with one bay, two columns, and two stories, and those with three bays, four columns, and three stories. Their heights generally reach about 6 meters, with widths ranging from 3.1 to 4.9 meters. Above the archway tablet is a vertical plaque inscribed with “Imperial Edict,” while the central section features large-character plaques such as “Glorious Virtue Shines Bright,” and the lower part bears inscriptions like “Commended by the Qing Court.”

At the site today, there are 8 archways, all in varying states of damage, plus one more whose components lie scattered on the ground but has not been reassembled. According to records, one additional archway is unaccounted for.

Historical records from Pingnan note that between the 50th year of the Qianlong reign (1719) and the 14th year of the Guangxu reign (1889), the Zhang family of Jitou Village constructed a total of 11 archways. Aside from one wooden archway, the other 10 were made of high-quality granite. In just over 170 years, a village with a population of just a few hundred managed to build such an impressive cluster of archways. This is not only unique across the entire province, but also extremely rare throughout China.