The Tusi Ancestral Temple in Baojing

The Tusi Ancestral Temple in Baojing

The Tusi Ancestral Temple in Baojing is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Hunan Province.

The Tusi Ancestral Temple is located at the southern foot of Taiping in Laosicheng. It was first built in the second year of the Tianfu era of the Later Jin Dynasty (937 AD) and rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty. The main hall features pillars several spans in girth, with no axe or chisel marks where the wooden beams are joined — legend has it that they were constructed through the divine intervention of Lu Ban. The temple covers an area of over 580 square meters. The main hall is five bays wide and four bays deep, with a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof, measuring 17.5 meters in length, 13 meters in width, and 20 meters in height. The entire structure is made of timber, supported by 34 large pillars. The column bases are double-layered, round and drum-shaped, while the roof ridges and eaves are adorned with intricately patterned ceramic tiles. At the front of the central golden pillars, there is a shrine enshrining the statue of the “Ancestral Master.” The temple’s brackets are majestic and rustic, and its beam structure is quite unique. It is a building of distinctive ethnic character in the Tujia region and is a key cultural heritage site under provincial protection in Hunan.