Wu Family Memorial Shrine for Chastity and Filial Piety

Wu Family Memorial Shrine for Chastity and Filial Piety

The Wu Family Memorial Shrine for Chastity and Filial Piety is a protected cultural heritage site of Hubei Province.

Wu Family Memorial Shrine for Chastity and Filial Piety

Located in Guren Dun Village, Hepu Town, Luotian County. According to the “Imperial Edict Honoring the Filial Wu Family” stele from the first year of the Yuan Dynasty's Huangqing era (1312) inside the shrine, as well as the Ming and Qing editions of the Luotian County Annals and the Wu Family Genealogy, the shrine was originally built during the Yuan Dynasty. It faces south and features a three-bay frontage spanning 7.8 meters and a depth of two bays at 8.5 meters. It has a post-and-lintel timber frame structure with a flush-gable roof covered in green tiles. In front of the shrine stands a memorial archway for the filial son, a four-pillar, three-bay stone memorial archway spanning 5.5 meters in width and 6 meters in total height. The upper beam is inscribed with the raised characters “Memorial Archway for the Filial Wu Son,” while the central plaque features bas-relief carvings of dragons and phoenixes. This shrine is the earliest surviving ancestral hall in the Hubei region and holds significant value for the study of the commemorative systems and social customs of the time. (Fifth Batch)

Source: Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Protected Cultural Heritage Sites of Hubei Province