The Ma Ancestral Hall in Yilong

The Ma Ancestral Hall in Yilong

The Ma Ancestral Hall in Yilong is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Ma Ancestral Hall is located in Chaijing Township, about 50 kilometers east of Yilong County, Sichuan Province. It is a quadrangle-style architectural complex made up of a front corridor, mountain gate, stage, left and right wing rooms, and a main hall. Covering an area of approximately 1,861 square meters, the building features a rational design, grand scale, and beautifully carved artistic architectural elements with smooth, lifelike patterns. It holds extremely high historical, artistic, and scientific value. In 2003, it was designated as a Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit by Nanchong City. In 2007, it was announced as a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the People's Government of Sichuan Province.

The Ma Ancestral Hall is located in Yilong County, facing west. It covers an area of 1,861 square meters and consists of a memorial archway, front corridor, mountain gate, theater stage, left and right wing rooms, and a main hall. The memorial archway has a brick-and-stone structure, featuring six columns and five stories, with a width of six meters and a height of four meters. Behind the archway is the front corridor, which has steps 0.9 meters high, a width of seven bays (23.9 meters), and a depth of 5.1 meters. It uses a post-and-lintel beam frame, has a hip-and-gable roof, is covered with small blue tiles, and includes a five-level stairway. The mountain gate connects to the theater stage. Its steps are 1.4 meters high, with a span of three bays (6.4 meters) and a depth of 3.8 meters. It uses a raised-beam beam frame. [Third building description]

The eaves feature a hip-and-gable roof covered with small blue tiles, and there are eight levels of steps. The main hall has steps 1.35 meters high, spans seven bays (22.8 meters), has a depth of 7.4 meters, and is 8.7 meters high. It uses a hybrid post-and-lintel and raised-beam beam frame, features a hip-and-gable roof, is covered with small blue tiles, and has seven levels of steps. Each of the left and right wing rooms spans seven bays (27.4 meters), has a depth of 4.5 meters, and has a hanging-hip roof. There are currently two relief carvings of cranes holding flowers and 15 painted panels depicting the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars. The beams of the Ma Ancestral Hall bear inscriptions from the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty (1628–1644). The building is large in scale, shows distinct local architectural styles, and possesses high artistic, historical, and cultural relic value.

Cultural Relics Protection

The Ma Ancestral Hall is among the earliest constructed ancestral halls in Yilong County, and it is also the largest and best-preserved. It was designated as a Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit by Nanchong City in 2003 and as a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the People's Government of Sichuan Province in 2007.

Protective boundary: to the east bounded by the mountainside, to the south by the highway, to the west by 10 meters outside the sports ground, and to the north by residential houses.

Construction control zone: a 50-meter buffer extending beyond the protective boundary.