The Ancient Architectural Complex of the Meng Mansion

The Ancient Architectural Complex of the Meng Mansion

The Ancient Architectural Complex of the Meng Mansion is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Ancient Architectural Complex of the Meng Mansion is located to the west of the Temple of Mencius and served as the residence of the direct descendants of Mencius. In the second year of the Zhi Shun era during the Yuan Dynasty (1331), Emperor Wenzong conferred upon Mencius the title of “Duke of Secondary Sage of the State of Zou,” hence the mansion is also known as the “Secondary Sage Mansion.” The complex was initially built in the late Northern Song Dynasty and has a history of over 800 years. Originally modest in scale, it underwent multiple renovations and expansions through successive dynasties until the early Qing Dynasty, when it had developed into a complex of seven courtyards from front to back. Divided by the main building, the “Great Hall,” the front section served as the government office, the middle as the private residence, and the rear as the garden. The entire complex includes 148 structures such as buildings, halls, pavilions, and towers. It stretches 226 meters from north to south and 99 meters from east to west, covering a total area of 22,400 square meters. It is one of China’s grandest, best-preserved, and most typical ancient architectural complexes that integrate official offices with private residences, as well as a classic feudal landlord manor. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Meng Mansion became a place for collecting and displaying a large number of unearthed cultural relics and relics inherited from the Meng Mansion. In 1988, it was designated by the State Council as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Main Gate, locally referred to as the “Yamen,” is a three-bay, single-eave, flush-gable building. On the east and west sides of the gate stand two four-pillar, three-bay wooden memorial archways (both were demolished during the Cultural Revolution and have not been restored), named respectively the “Loyalty Commendation Archway” and the “Chastity and Filial Piety Commendation Archway.” At the center of the top of both archways hangs a vertical plaque inscribed with the two characters “Imperial Edict.” The central panel of the east archway is inscribed with: “In the summer of the eleventh year of the Jiaqing reign, Wei Chengxian, the Patrol Intendant of Yanzhou, Yizhou, Caozhou, and Jizhou under the Shandong Circuit.” The central panel of the west archway reads: “In the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, Wei Yingjia, the Minor Minister of the Court of Imperial Stables, was dispatched as an imperial envoy; Zhao Yan, the military commander overseeing the ministries and provincial offices; Sun Chaosu, the Right Assistant Minister of the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission, concurrently managing the affairs of Yanzhou Prefecture, petitioned for the posthumous conferment of the title of ‘Chaste and Respectful Lady’ upon Lady Kong, mother of the Hanlin Academician Mencius; the titles of Minor Minister of the Court of Imperial Stables upon Mencius Chengguang; Minor Minister of the Court of Imperial Stables upon Mencius Xianlüe; and the reconstruction by Mencius Chuanlian, the 68th-generation descendant of the Secondary Sage and hereditary Hanlin Academician, Five Classics Doctor.” These two archways were erected by Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjiao, to honor Mencius’s 60th-generation direct descendant, the hereditary Hanlin Academician and Five Classics Doctor Mencius Chengguang, his mother Lady Kong, and his eldest son Mencius Xianlüe (who was killed in 1622, the second year of the Tianqi reign, while fighting against the peasant rebellion led by Xu Hongyu of the White Lotus Sect). They were built to commend their loyalty to the feudal imperial court. Between the two archways stands a tall screen wall facing directly toward the main gate of the Meng Mansion. At the center of the main gate hangs a vertical plaque inscribed with the three gilded characters “Secondary Sage Mansion.” On either side of the gate stand a pair of more than two-meter-tall round stone lions, male and female. A pair of square stone platforms, used for mounting carriages or horses, are placed on either side of the steps. The black-lacquered gate is painted with more than two-meter-tall door gods in armor and wielding swords. Inside the gate, on the east and west sides, there are rows of small brick-and-tile houses where attendants and guards lived.

The Second Gate, also called the “Gate of Rites,” has the four characters “Gate of Rites, Road of Righteousness” inscribed horizontally across its central lintel. At the center are colorful paintings of helmeted, armored warriors wielding swords; on the sides are depictions of refined civil officials holding ceremonial tablets.

The Screen Gate is located directly inside the Second Gate, facing the front, and stands in the center. There are no connecting walls on either side of the Screen Gate, making it similar to a partition gate. Entirely constructed of wood, the entire gate structure is supported by only two pillars, with massive stone drums at the base. Above the two pillars rests a cluster of brightly painted gate roof structures, adorned at the front and back with four upside-down carved floral buds, hence it is also called the “Hanging Flower Gate.” This gate is usually kept closed and is only opened on special occasions such as grand celebrations in the Meng Mansion, imperial visits, receiving imperial edicts, or conducting major sacrificial ceremonies. After thirteen ceremonial cannon shots are fired, the gate is slowly opened. Therefore, it is also referred to as the “Ceremonial Gate” or “Closure Gate.” In feudal society, only titled feudal lords who were granted land and titles had the privilege to construct such gates.

The Great Hall is a five-bay hall with a projecting roof, built on a square platform that is elevated above the surrounding courtyards. On both sides are elaborately carved dragon-patterned stone railings and green-brick flower walls surrounding the red steps. In the southeast corner stands a sundial, and in the southwest corner is a measuring vessel symbolizing authority, modeled after the layout of the imperial palace. Below the front eaves of the hall hangs a plaque inscribed with the characters “Seven Chapters Bestow Principles,” bestowed and inscribed by Emperor Yongzheng in the third year of his reign (1725) upon Mencius’s 65th-generation descendant, Mencius Yantai. On the columns below the eaves on either side of the gate hang parallel couplets in seal script with gold characters, reading: “Continuing the past and opening the future, inheriting teachings for a thousand years under the protection of Yan; residing in benevolence and following righteousness, revered for a hundred generations for ancestral valor.” The Great Hall was the place where the hereditary Hanlin Academician and Five Classics Doctor of the Mencius lineage read imperial edicts, expounded family rules and clan regulations, and held ceremonies for festivals and birthdays. Inside the hall is a wooden heated chamber, within which sits an official desk furnished with the Four Treasures of the Study, a lottery tube, and an ink box. On both sides of the chamber are displayed plaques and banners such as “Silence,” “Avoidance,” “Five Classics Doctor,” “Hereditary Hanlin Academician,” and “Secondary Sage Sacrificial Official,” along with various ceremonial instruments like flags, gongs, umbrellas, and fans. On either side of the Great Hall are east and west wing rooms, which served as offices for managing the Temple of Mencius’s sacrificial fields, general affairs, ritual personnel, musicians, scribes, and attendants. To the left and right of the Great Hall are dedicated drum music towers for performances by ceremonial bands.

The Five Generations Ancestral Hall is located in a small independent courtyard to the east of the Great Hall. It is a three-bay flush-gable building and serves as the family ancestral hall of the Mencius clan. Two couplets are hung inside the hall: the first reads “Tracing virtuous teachings from the Three Moves, for two thousand years descendants emerge; offering sacrifices to five generations, countless rites honor clan successors,” written by Xiaoshan Tang Jinchuan in the fifth month of the seventh year of the Daoguang reign (1827). The second reads “Virtue borrowed from the Seven Chapters soars to the lofty clouds, descendants inherit the grace; the ancestral hall divided into five generations honors great-great-grandfathers, exuding fragrant reverence,” co-written by Gu Shu and Yao Yuanzhi. The hall houses wooden memorial tablets of five generations of the Mencius clan’s hereditary Hanlin Academicians and Five Classics Doctors, with earlier generations relocated to the “Ancestral Transfer Hall” in the Temple of Mencius.

The Mountain-Viewing Hall is a uniquely shaped, L-shaped building located to the west of the Great Hall and served as the place where the direct descendants of the Mencius clan received and entertained guests.

The Inner Residence Gate is a forbidden gate located behind the Great Hall, leading into the inner residence of the Meng Mansion. It is a flush-gable hanging flower gate. In the past, it was heavily guarded, and ordinary people were not allowed to enter without permission. The carved wooden lattice on the outer eaves features hollow-carved patterns such as “Carp Leaping Over the Dragon Gate,” “Qilin Delivering a Child,” and “Crane and Deer in Spring.” Upside-down carved beaded tassels hang on both sides of the gate. In front of the gate is an east-west path called the “Night Watch Path.” On the east and west sides are corner gates used by night watchmen patrolling the inner residence.

The Hall of Imperial Grace is the main room of the inner residence. It is a five-bay flush-gable building with corridors in the front and back. At the center of the main bay hangs a large horizontal plaque inscribed with the characters “Hall of Imperial Grace” in regular script, said to be the handwriting of the Qing Dynasty’s Tiebao. The two side bays are separated by carved dragon-patterned partitions and latticed doors, while the two end bays are connected by solid gable walls with doors. The interior is furnished with antique wooden cabinets, an eight-immortal table, armchairs, and a carved canopy bed. The walls display paintings such as “Peaches for Longevity” and calligraphy by notable figures like Wang Jingxi and Japanese scholar Shioya Atsushi. The tables hold displays of ancient porcelain and jade artifacts. Before 1948, it was the residence of Mencius’s 74th-generation descendant, Mencius Fanji, and his wife. In front of the Hall of Imperial Grace are five-room east and west wing rooms, which were the residences of close relatives of the Mencius clan. The courtyard is planted with ice sugar pomegranate trees, walnut trees, and rose flowers (commonly known as “Fragrance for Ten Miles”). On the north side of the two wing rooms are corner gates: the east one leads to the kitchen courtyard, and the west one leads to the Gift Book Tower courtyard.

The Gift Book Tower is a two-story building with three rooms on each floor, featuring a flush-gable structure with projecting eaves, a typical Ming Dynasty design. The upper floor has three pairs of smaller windows facing front and back, and a wooden staircase is located on the west gable wall, with simple and elegant handrails. To prevent fire, a layer of square bricks is laid on top of the wooden floor. The tower was used exclusively by the Mencius descendants to store imperial calligraphy, edicts, patents, ancient books and documents, and the family archives. At the center of the upper floor once hung a horizontal plaque inscribed with the characters “Gift Book Tower” in seal script, written by Wu Qikuan of the Qing Dynasty.

The Jade Green Tower is a two-story building with five rooms on each floor, featuring a projecting eave platform. It is located in the sixth courtyard of the Meng Mansion. Together with the small quadrangle behind the “Gift Book Tower,” it served as the residence of the close relatives of the Mencius descendants who served as Sacrificial Officials for up to five generations. The central main bay of this tower faces directly north-south toward the main gate of the Meng Mansion, with the central corridor of the mansion passing through the gate, forming an axis line for the seventh courtyard. The tower was destroyed in the late Qing Dynasty and was rebuilt in 1982 with funding from the Shandong Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau. It now serves as a storage facility for precious cultural relics such as bronzes, ceramics, metalwork, calligraphy, and paintings.

The Front School and Back School: The “Front School” is located in the west of the first courtyard of the Meng Mansion and consists of a group of quadrangle buildings. The “Back School” is located in the west of the sixth courtyard, near the Jade Green Tower, and is also a group of ancient quadrangle buildings. During the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty, Mencius’s 70th-generation descendant and hereditary Hanlin Academician, Mencius Guangjun, ran schools in the “Front School” and “Back School” to educate talented descendants of the Mencius clan, known as the “Three Moves Academy.” Later, the two schools gradually fell into disuse. In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican period, a two-story building with five rooms on each floor was built west of the Hall of Imperial Grace in the Meng Mansion to establish the “Mencius Clan School,” which enrolled descendants of the Mencius lineage until it closed shortly before the founding of New China.

Mencius (circa 372–289 BCE), a philosopher, statesman, and educator of the Warring States period and a representative figure of the Confucian Mencian school; his given name was Ke, courtesy name Ziyu, and he was a native of Zou in the State of Lu (present-day southeastern Zoucheng, Shandong). He is regarded as the successor to Confucius’ teachings and is honored as the “Secondary Sage.”

It is said that Mencius was a descendant of the noble Mengsun clan of the State of Lu. Orphaned at a young age and raised in poverty, he studied under a disciple of Zisi. After completing his studies, he traveled among the feudal lords as a scholar, attempting to promote his political ideals. He visited the states of Liang (Wei), Qi, Song, and Teng. Although he was once… [Mencius detailed information++]