The Ancestral Temple of Mow Gong Yufang

　　Opposite the southern hills lies the Mow family (ancestral hall),

　　Every beam is carved with blooming flowers (all intricately carved),

　　The lattice screens are adorned with glass (glazed) tiles,

　　And the eaves drip with patterns of peony blooms.

　　This ballad refers to the Ancestral Temple of Mow Gong Yufang, which was first built in the 5th year of the Longqing era during the Ming Dynasty (1571), over 260 years before the Mow Gong (Xuanqing) Ancestral Hall in Fengkai. It was renovated in the 36th year of the Qianlong era (1771). The temple also follows a three-courtyard, three-bay layout. The entrance gate is made of marble with exquisitely precise joints. Most remarkably praised are the wood carvings on the eave brackets and beams inside the temple, whose craftsmanship rivals that of the wood carvings in the Dragon Mother Ancestral Temple of Yuecheng. A well-preserved stone stele is kept in the temple, recording that Mow Yufang was the 15th-generation descendant of Mow Xuanqing, the first top imperial scholar from Lingnan, and that he settled in Luohong after coming here to establish a school and teach students. He had four sons after his death, each of whom had their own ancestral halls. The central beam of the main hall of Yufang Temple still bears large flat-headed nails, with a plaque inscribed “First of Lingnan” hanging in the middle, and plaques bearing poems bestowed by Tang emperors to Mow Xuanqing hung on both sides. Unfortunately, these no longer exist today.