Zheng Clan Ancestral Temple

　　The Zheng Clan Ancestral Temple is a third-grade historic site, built in the third year of the Xianfeng reign during the Qing Dynasty (1853) by Zheng Yongxi. Its architecture follows a three-courtyard, two-hall layout, featuring a single-eave swallowtail roof ridge. The brick carvings on the front hall corridor walls are exquisitely crafted and refined. During the Qing Dynasty, families with members who passed the imperial examinations at the provincial level or higher were permitted to erect flagpole stands, symbolizing scholarly achievement and honor. The four stone flagpole bases in front of the Zheng Clan Ancestral Temple, along with numerous plaques honoring jinshi (advanced scholars), provincial degree holders, tribute students, Mingjing graduates, and chaste widows, are clear evidence of the Zheng family’s longstanding tradition of academic and cultural excellence. The temple is not open to the public, but it can be glimpsed during the family ancestral worship ceremonies held on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, as well as during the spring and autumn rituals held for the Lantern Festival and Winter Solstice, showcasing the splendor of this once-prominent clan.

　　Zheng Yongxi (1788~1858)　　Zheng Yongxi (1788–1858), courtesy name Zhongzai and art name Zhiting, was a native of Tamsui, Taiwan during the Qing Dynasty. He served as an assistant department director in the Military Selection Bureau of the Ministry of War and the Ritual Regulations Bureau of the Ministry of Rites, and authored the collection *Beikuoyuan Ji*. Zheng Yongxi was originally from Kinmen, Quanzhou Prefecture (his ancestral home was in Jinmen, Tong’an County). In the third year of the Daoguang reign (1823), he earned the jinshi degree and was appointed as a Tongzhi official. In the fourteenth year, he served in the capital successively as an assistant department director in the Military Selection Bureau of the Ministry of War and the Ritual Regulations Bureau of the Ministry of Rites. In the seventeenth year, he returned to Taiwan, where he presided over lectures at the Mingzhi Academy and devoted himself to local development. In the nineteenth year, he personally raised a militia to resist British military incursions. Zheng Yongxi’s ancestors migrated from Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province to Kinmen, Quanzhou Prefecture during the late Ming Dynasty (see also Zheng Chenggong). In the fortieth year of the Qianlong reign (1775) …… More Details+