Tian Jiabing’s Ancestral Home (Gongchen Tower)

Tian Jiabing’s Ancestral Home (Gongchen Tower)

Tian Jiabing’s Ancestral Home (Gongchen Tower) is a cultural relic protection unit of Guangdong Province and a patriotic education base.

Located in Yintan Village, Gaobei Town, Gongchen Tower, Tian Jiabing’s ancestral home, is a key cultural relic protection unit of Dabu County, as well as a patriotic education base and student moral education base in Meizhou City. Gongchen Tower is not large; it faces northeast from the southwest and sits quietly there, like an elegant and refined scholar. Behind it is Back Head Mountain, whose terrain is slightly lofty, with a dragon-like ridge winding downward. The left mountain slope extends out, embracing the area like arms, and is much higher than the right hillside. According to feng shui experts, the green dragon is on the left, the white tiger on the right—when the green dragon is higher than the white tiger, it indicates good feng shui. Everyone, please also take a look at the water channel in front of the house, which locals call “waistband water,” a symbol of good fortune. Standing in front of Gongchen Tower, you’ll enjoy a wide-open view, embraced by mountains and water, making it a refreshing and uplifting experience.

Gongchen Tower was built in the first year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1796 AD) by Tian Zhenduo, the great-great-grandfather of Mr. Tian Jiabing. It covers an area of 320 square meters, with a construction area of 264 square meters. The layout follows a palace-style design, featuring a brick-and-wood structure and a two-courtyard compound. The upper hall is a two-story building, with the main hall in the center and two wing rooms on either side; the lower hall consists of single-story buildings with a courtyard in the middle. The roof ridge of the main gate has simple plaster carvings. Outside the gate courtyard is a perimeter wall, and on the left side of the house, a wing room faces the gate courtyard. On the right side of the main structure, there is also a corner gate facing southeast, connected to the perimeter wall, inscribed with the plaque “Confucian Scholar’s Mansion,” written by Ye Xuanping, former Vice Chairman of the CPPCC. Although the entire building is not large in scale, its layout is rational, bathed in sunlight and well ventilated, offering a comfortable and pleasant atmosphere.

Yintan Village: Yintan Village in Dabu County, Meizhou City, is located in the western part of Gaobei Town. Our village administers 16 villager groups, with 396 registered households and a population of 1,689 people. The total area of the village is 46 square kilometers, with cultivated land covering 1,062 mu. In the previous year, the total rural economic income of our village was 12.94 million yuan. 1. Adjust the agricultural structure and develop bamboo production and Shuanghua plum production bases. 2. Leverage the city’s tourism industry development to boost the growth of our village’s specialty agricultural products, increasing farmers’ income. … Yintan Village detailed information++

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units

· Second Batch of Meizhou Municipal Cultural Relic Protection Units