Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall

Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall

Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall is located in Dong’antou Village, Wanjing Town, Ningyuan County, Hunan Province. It was first built in the first year of the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty (1736) to commemorate Li Fu, a native of the village who became a Jinshi (imperial scholar) in the third year of the Jingtai reign during the Ming Dynasty (1452). It is one of the major scenic spots in Jiuyi Mountain.

Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall is a residential building complex that serves the purposes of ancestral worship, commemorating notable figures, and hosting public welfare events. At its peak, the site was adorned with plaques, hall inscriptions, and couplets both inside and outside the hall. These, along with the moon terrace, pond, and literary pagoda in front of the hall, formed an impressive cultural architectural landscape, representing a distinctive feature of traditional southern Chinese residential architecture. The Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall covers an area of 1,200 square meters, with a built-up area of 782.2 square meters.

Origins and History

More than four hundred years after Li Shinan, a scholar from Jiuanbei Village, achieved the honor of becoming a Hanlin scholar, in the third year of the Jingtai reign during the Ming Dynasty (1452), Li Fu, another scholar from the Li clan of Wanjing and a native of Dong’antou Village, also passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, earning the title of Hanlin scholar. This was a great honor for the family, and naturally, the people of Dong’antou Village decided to build a Hanlin Ancestral Hall to commemorate the achievement.

In the first year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1736), the village built this public welfare building with local southern Hunan characteristics to commemorate Li Fu, a native of the village who became a Jinshi. In the sixteenth year of the Jiaqing reign (1811), a wooden memorial archway was added; in the seventh year of the Daoguang reign (1827), the archway was moved outside the hall; and in the fifth year of the Guangxu reign (1879), the archway was rebuilt. In the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920), Li Ziqing, a native of the village who was then a commander of a Nationalist army unit stationed in Guilin, returned home for a visit. Seeing that the buildings of the Hanlin Ancestral Hall were low and modest, he advocated for renovations that raised the height of the structures, resulting in the current layout.

Layout

The Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall consists of a moon terrace, memorial archway, entrance hall, theater stage, side rooms, courtyard, lower hall, upper hall, and ceremonial hall, arranged in sequential progression. Behind the hall lies the Back Dragon Mountain, and in front of it is a crescent-shaped pond covering approximately eight acres.

Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall is a residential building complex that serves the purposes of ancestral worship, commemorating notable figures, and hosting public welfare events. At its peak, the site was adorned with plaques, hall inscriptions, and couplets both inside and outside the hall. These, along with the moon terrace, pond, and literary pagoda in front of the hall, formed an impressive cultural architectural landscape, representing a distinctive feature of traditional southern Chinese residential architecture.

There are currently five stone steles from the Qing and Republican periods preserved within the hall. Approximately 200 meters southeast of the hall stands a stone pagoda.

On October 7, 2019, the Dong’antou Hanlin Ancestral Hall was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Dong’antou Village: Dong’antou Village…… More detailed information about Dong’antou Village++

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Hunan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units