Shuangfeng Ge Ancestral Hall

Shuangfeng Ge Ancestral Hall

The Shuangfeng Ge Ancestral Hall is a cultural heritage site protected by Hunan Province.

The Ge Ancestral Hall is located in Changtang Village, Heye Town, by the Juan River.

The Ge Ancestral Hall is built with brick and wood and features a typical architectural style of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is one of the larger and better-preserved ancestral halls in Loudi City. The hall has two entrances on the east and west sides, with a spacious courtyard in front. The four large characters “葛氏宗祠” are inscribed on the mountain-shaped wall at the front. The main gate is hung with a sign that reads “Shangda School.” There are also two small side gates, respectively called “Yilu” (Righteous Path) and “Limen” (Ritual Gate). The structure of the Ge Ancestral Hall is grand in appearance and logically laid out inside. Passing through the main gate is a hallway, and above the hallway is a stage. The expansive ceremonial hall is named “Dunlun Hall.” The shrine houses statues of the founding ancestors Ge Hong and Bao Gu, as well as seven figures including Ge Lin, the ancestor who migrated to Hunan. The two doors of the ceremonial hall each have an oval-shaped doorway connecting to the teaching rooms on the left and right wings. The oval doors are inscribed with the four characters “Zhongxiao” (Loyalty and Filial Piety) and “Lianjie” (Integrity and Modesty), which serve both as clan rules and school mottos. In December 2003, the Loudi Municipal People's Government designated it as a protected cultural relic. In 2011, it was promoted to a provincial-level heritage site.

During the Tongzhi era, this vast expanse of fertile land was owned by Zeng Guoquan. However, the residents here all bore the surname Ge and were commonly known as the “Xiangxiang Ges,” the only branch of the Ge family in Shuangfeng. The ancestor of the Xiangxiang Ges who migrated to Hunan was Ge Lin (1417–1481), courtesy name Gongyu, the 35th-generation descendant of Ge Hong, a Taoist scholar, alchemist, and pharmacologist from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. During the Xuande era of the Ming Dynasty, Ge Lin, who came from a family of traditional medicine practitioners, fled the chaos of war. He set off from Gushawu on West Dongting Lake, Taihu, Wuxian County (now Wuzhong District), Jiangsu Province, treating people along the way with herbal remedies using secret prescriptions passed down in his family. He trekked across mountains and rivers, arriving in the Chu region (now Hunan), traveling south to Hengzhou (now Hengyang), west to Baoqing (now Shaoyang), and finally settling in Xiangxiang County, where he lived near the county seat. Gongyu was married to a woman surnamed He and had four sons: Jing, Lun, Jin, and Shen, who became the four major branches of the Xiangxiang Ges. In the tenth year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1805), descendants chose the land in Changtang, Heye, to build the Ge Ancestral Hall, where they offered sacrifices to their founding ancestors and forebears year after year. By the 20th year of the Guangxu reign (1894), the Ge Ancestral Hall was expanded and renovated, reaching an area of 15 mu.

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Further Reading:

· Ninth Batch of Cultural Heritage Sites Protected by Hunan Province