Guangming Chen Clan Ancestral Hall

Guangming Chen Clan Ancestral Hall

The Guangming Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is a protected cultural heritage site under Guangdong Province.

The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is situated at Yan Ying Shi in Guangming Village, Zhoubei Town, Wengyuan County. It was built by the Chen families of Longtiancheng, Zhoubei—the birthplace of General Chen Lin, the Ming Dynasty hero who fought against Japanese pirates—to honor his accomplishments and rank. Originally built in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, the hall later fell into ruin due to neglect and collapsed during the Qing Dynasty. In the 21st year of the Republic of China (1932), Chen Dingce, the then-county magistrate, along with Chen Buqian, the succeeding democratically elected county magistrate and commander of the County United Militia, mobilized funds from clan relatives across seven neighboring counties to rebuild this approximately 2,000-square-meter ancestral hall. The new structure featured a three-courtyard, five-bay layout in a Sino-Western architectural fusion style. In October 1938, Wengyuan County Middle School relocated here from Sanhua. Members of the Guangdong Provincial Youth Anti-Japanese Vanguard, dispatched by the underground Communist Party organization in Guangdong, taught here under cover and secretly led local revolutionary struggles, establishing the first Party branch in Wengyuan County. In 1939, the Wengyuan County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was also founded here. The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall served as the former headquarters of the Wengyuan County Committee and the base for local anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare. A total of 31 comrades who joined the Party here later became provincial (ministerial), departmental, or division-level officials after the liberation.

To commemorate General Chen Lin’s great achievements, the Korean people built the “Chen Lin Shrine” in Huangchaoli (now Desongshi), Hainan County, South Gyeongsang Province. Yu Hanmou, commander of the 12th Army Group of the Republic of China, paid homage to General Chen at the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall in the 29th year of the Republic of China (1940) and composed a commemorative couplet that reads: “Led campaigns against the Japanese pirates, achieved extraordinary feats on the Liao Sea; a national hero whose name will never fade. When hearing war drums, the people remember their generals and ministers; the nation reveres the temple of the Grand Protector of the Ming, which stands eternal.” On June 23, 1994, Mr. Chen Bangzhi, the 13th-generation Korean descendant of General Chen Lin and then-official in charge of Gangwon Province for the Korean Democratic Peaceful Unification Front, led a delegation to the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall for ancestral worship, family reunion, and economic-trade discussions. Since then, descendants of General Chen Lin residing in Korea have returned to their ancestral home annually to hold memorial and sacrificial ceremonies, playing a profoundly meaningful role in promoting cultural and economic exchanges between China and Korea.

To protect this ancestral hall, which holds both historical significance and educational value, the Wengyuan County People's Government designated it as a county-level “Cultural Heritage Protection Unit” in January 1985. In August 1995, the Wengyuan County Committee and County Government further designated it as a “Patriotism Education Base.”

In 2012, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province listed it as part of the seventh batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units.

Guangming Village: [Guangming Village] comprises 20 villager groups, with a total of 685 households and a population of 3,086. It has 3,377 mu of arable land, including 4,646 mu of mountainous land. The village currently has six cadres in its “two committees” and 91 Communist Party members. Its main agricultural products are fruit sugarcane and vegetables.

… More details about Guangming Village++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units