Chen Gong Ancestral Hall Pavilion

Chen Gong Ancestral Hall Pavilion

Chen Gong Ancestral Hall Pavilion is a Guizhou Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Chen Gong Ancestral Hall Pavilion is located on Middle Street in Shangji Town. Historical records refer to it as “Chen Gong Ancestral Hall.” It consists of a main structure (0-), left and right wing rooms, a covered corridor, and a stele corridor, covering an area of approximately 650 square meters.

The main gate is a four-pillar, three-door brick memorial archway added during the Republican era, with side walls connecting to floral-patterned walls on both sides. Inside the gate, a covered corridor leads directly to the base of the pavilion. On either side of the corridor are one-story-over-one-story wing rooms. The main 0- and the smaller 0-s on both sides are all built atop a five-bay hall. The ground floor is shared by the same building, while the upper floors house the separate pavilions. Viewed from the front, they form a “mountain” shape. The five-bay hall, along with the left and right wing buildings and the covered corridor, are integrated into a cohesive design. In terms of the floor plan, the layout forms an inverted “mountain” shape. This ingenious architectural arrangement is quite rare within Guizhou. The three 0-s share a unified first floor, with a total width of 24.65 meters and a depth of 11.4 meters. The central bay serves as a passageway, with the front half supported by four additional pillars. The two front pillars and the central pillar of the central bay extend up to the second floor, becoming the central pillars of the second floor of the main 0-. The front eave pillars of the side bays on the first floor of the three 0-s also serve as the front and rear eave pillars of one side of the wing buildings, as well as the front central and middle pillars of the side bays. These pillars extend up to the second floor to become the four eave pillars of the smaller 0-s. This interlocking, multi-purpose structural system effectively enhances the stability of the building.

The main 0- has a four-story, four-eave, hexagonal pyramidal roof structure, standing 28 meters tall. The net height of its wooden structure is equal to the total width of the first floor of the three 0-s. Starting from the first eave, each successive level tapers inward, mimicking a tiled roof. The eaves are fitted with drip tiles, and the ridges and wing corners are adorned with floral decorations or mythical beast heads (chīwěn). The undersides of the eaves are fitted with coiled brackets. Eighteen wing corners are each hung with a bronze bell. The rooftop is crowned with a three-jewel bottle finial. The base of the finial features six carved dragon heads, each holding a section of the roof ridge in its mouth. The two smaller 0-s on either side, also known as the Scripture Pavilion, are each about 15 meters tall, featuring a double-eave, hip-and-gable roof. Their main ridges are relatively high, with a treasure bottle sculpture in the middle and chīwěn at the ridge ends. The gable and wing corners are decorated with patterns. The outer sides of the two smaller 0-s feature tall firewalls, which are structurally connected to the wooden frame of the 0-s using iron fittings.

This ancestral hall was built to commemorate Chen Yudian, the magistrate of Zunyi in the early years of the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty. Chen, originally from Licheng in Shandong, served as the Zunyi magistrate starting in the third year of Qianlong (1738). He introduced silkworm eggs from Shandong and taught locals sericulture and silk reeling techniques, pioneering the silk textile industry in Guizhou. The resulting products sold well both within and beyond the province, even reaching “the Western Regions and the Nanyang (Southeast Asia),” bringing prosperity to Zunyi. A statue of Chen is enshrined in the hall. The original main gate featured a stone couplet: “Bringing mulberry to distant lands, his virtue extends through the land of Bozhou.”

The 0- was first built in the 29th year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1849), renovated during the Guangxu reign, and listed as a Guizhou Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 1982. In 1987, with funds raised by the public and allocated by the Provincial Department of Culture, a major restoration was carried out. Now resplendent in color, it stands firmly as a scenic highlight south of the county.