Shangjie Xinzhou Jin Clan Ancestral Hall

Shangjie Xinzhou Jin Clan Ancestral Hall

Shangjie Xinzhou Jin Clan Ancestral Hall is a cultural heritage site protected by Minhou County.

Shangjie Xinzhou Jin Clan Ancestral Hall

The Jin family of Xinzhou Village, Shangjie Town, Minhou County, is a branch of the Pengcheng Jin Clan. They migrated to Fujian in the late Tang Dynasty. By the eleventh generation of their Fujian ancestors, due to sparse population, they scattered and settled in various places. Jin Lüfeng, styled Xicheng and also known as Lianggong, was born in 1235 in the Jin residence of Lanxi County, Zhejiang Province, during the second year of the Duanping era of the Song Dynasty. Jin Lüfeng was both intelligent and brave, and achieved military merit through his campaigns, eventually rising to the rank of Grand General before the Emperor and Censor-in-Chief. Soon after, when the Yuan army invaded, Jin Lüfeng repeatedly achieved victories in defense and was granted military merits and an hereditary title. Later, when the Song Dynasty fell to the Yuan, Jin Lüfeng, frustrated that the times could no longer be changed, returned to seclusion in Bituizhou, Houguan County, Fujian, along with his son Jin Biao. There, he built a cottage, reclaimed sandy land, and developed gardens, transforming a desolate wasteland into a prosperous land of fertile fields. In the fifth year of the Yuandade era (1302 AD), Jin Lüfeng passed away at home at the age of 67. After his death, the Jin clan thrived and multiplied in Bituizhou. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the clan had grown to over 30 generations and 500 households. Later, due to Bituizhou being a sandy island that suffered repeated floods, resulting in the collapse of fields and houses and gradual shrinkage of the area, members of the Jin clan gradually migrated to other places during the Qing Qianlong period. Among them, a group consisting of 18 clansmen from the "Cheng" generation — the fourth-generation descendants of Jin Chongzhao, the 29th-generation descendant of the founding ancestor Jin Heng — relocated as a whole to the land west of Bituizhou. To distinguish it from their ancestral home of Bituizhou, the new settlement was named "Xinzhou" (New Territory).

In the 12th year of the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty (1787), descendants of Jin Lüfeng dismantled the original general’s residence “Zhongtang Temple” and divided it to construct the Pengcheng Jin Clan Ancestral Hall and the Jin General Temple.

The Xinzhou Jin Clan Ancestral Hall was rebuilt or renovated in the 17th year of the Republic of China, according to inscriptions on the stone pillars. It has a single-entry layout with corridors on three sides, viewing stands on both sides, and what is believed to have been a stage at the back of the main gate. The main hall is called Guyitang.

The front of the ancestral hall, which is relatively tall, reflects architectural features of the Republican era. Photo by Xiao Feidao, March 2014. The front of the ancestral hall, which is relatively tall, reflects architectural features of the Republican era.

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