Board at the Pan Clan Ancestral Hall

Shangche Pan Clan Ancestral Hall

The Shangche Pan Clan Ancestral Hall is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangxi Province.

The Shangche Pan Clan Ancestral Hall is located in Shangche Village, Jitan Town, Xunwu County, and dates back to the 46th year of the Kangxi reign (1707).

The Pan Clan Ancestral Hall in Shangche Village, Jitan Town, Xunwu County, was first built in the 46th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1707 AD) and was renovated for the second time in 1993 (the first renovation occurred during the Qianlong reign). It covers an area of 1,233 square meters. In front of the ancestral hall lies a clear moon-shaped pond, which not only enhances feng shui but also serves as a source of water for fire control. The central part of the hall is a three-bay brick-and-concrete structure, featuring corridor gates and drum stones, with a pair of red stone lions standing on the steps. Inside the ancestral hall, there are two sections in a row, a common layout for ancestral halls in southern Jiangxi. The spacious central courtyard serves as a play area for children. In the ancestral shrine of the upper hall, the memorial tablet of Pan Ren, the founding ancestor of the Pan clan in Xunwu, is enshrined.

The restored ancestral hall largely retains its original structure. The stone windows on the outer walls are adorned with openwork patterns and inscriptions. The tops of the beam-supporting pillars are fitted with bracket arms to support the upper beams, and the cambered blocks that bear the purlins are carved into vividly lifelike reclining lions, with blooming lotus flowers carried on their backs. The ridgepoles of the third-level beams are connected to the cambered blocks of the fourth-level beams, enhancing the stability of the beams and forming a distinctive feature of ancestral hall architecture in southern Jiangxi. The main structure of the Pan Clan Ancestral Hall is flanked by wing rooms, with long courtyards in between, representing a typical example of the transitional development from residential buildings to ancestral halls in southern Jiangxi.

The ancestral hall is situated near the village’s water outlet, in a beautifully scenic environment. Originally, there were eight scenic spots here: Xiangshan Zeng (Xiang Mountain Steamer), Huangjin Tan (Golden Pond), Zhugu Deng (Partridge Peak), Wuzhi Feng (Five-Finger Peak), Pianyue Chi (Crescent Moon Pond), Lianhua Zhai (Lotus Fortress), Jingang Shan (Diamond Mountain), and Yanggu Deng (Yanggu Peak), all of which are celebrated in poetry.

According to the Pan Clan Genealogy, the Pan clan of Jitan, Xunwu, traces its roots to the late Southern Song Dynasty. The founding ancestor, Pan Ren, was a general under Wen Tianxiang. Originally from Henan and later relocated to Changting, Fujian, Pan Ren recruited volunteer troops in Changting to resist the Yuan Dynasty and was appointed as the Grand General for Supporting the Emperor’s Campaign. He later joined Wen Tianxiang’s resistance forces and was named Minister of War. After Wen Tianxiang defeated the Yuan army at Yudu and reclaimed Yudu and Xingguo, Pan Ren led his troops to station in the Xunwu area. In the second year of the Xiangxing era, when the Southern Song Dynasty fell, Pan Ren, upon hearing the news and realizing there was no hope of finding the imperial descendants, disbanded his troops in Xunwu. Pan Ren and his son then went into seclusion in Xiangshan, Xunwu. Soon after, Pan Ren passed away in sorrow and was buried at Wushi Gang in Shangche Village. A hundred years later, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, posthumously honored Pan Ren with the title “Zhongjie” (Loyal and Upright) for his loyalty and resistance against the Yuan Dynasty.

Over 700 years after Pan Ren established the Pan clan in Xunwu, more than 300,000 descendants are spread across Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Shaanxi, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and abroad in countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, the United States, and Canada, with particularly large communities in the Hakka regions of Guangdong.

Further reading:

· Sixth Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units