The Clan Ancestral Hall of the Ke Family

The Clan Ancestral Hall of the Ke Family

The Clan Ancestral Hall of the Ke Family is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Clan Ancestral Hall of the Ke Family is located in the middle section of Jinchang South Street, Dachang Neighborhood Committee, Tuolian Subdistrict, Jinping District, Shantou City, Guangdong Province. Originally built during the Qing Dynasty, it faces southwest and measures 27.4 meters in width and 22 meters in depth, covering a total area of 971.05 square meters with a built-up area of 602.8 square meters. The structure follows a two-courtyard, one-sky-well layout with two side lanes. It is built with earth and wood, featuring an exterior with flush gable roofs, glazed tile roofing, and roof ridges adorned with ceramic figurines, birds, beasts, and other decorative motifs. The main gate is symmetrically designed with stone plaques engraved in relief on both sides, and a stone lintel inscribed with the raised characters “Clan Ancestral Hall of the Ke Family.” The interior employs a traditional post-and-lintel wooden structure with three tiers and five melon-shaped wooden supports, square stone pillars along the corridors, and spindle-shaped stone pillars in the main hall, all inscribed with couplets. There is a well located to the east of the hall, and a stone stele stands to the right of the main gate. The inscription records that in the eighth month of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the eighth year of the Xianfeng era, the ancestral hall was destroyed by a typhoon but was restored in the same year. Some remnants of the stele still allow for partial historical verification. In this prosperous era of national wealth and flourishing times, reconstruction began on the fifth day of the third lunar month in the year of Ji Chou, and was completed on the fourteenth day of the eleventh lunar month of the same year. On the nineteenth day of November that year, a grand ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of the reconstruction and the enshrinement of ancestral tablets. The architectural elements inside the hall, including wood carvings, stone carvings, and inlaid decorations, showcase distinctive Chaoshan architectural features. This ancestral hall holds significant historical and scientific value for the study of ancient Chaoshan architecture.