Chen Clan Ancestral Hall
Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family
Chen Clan Ancestral Hall Slideshow
Chen Clan Ancestral Hall Photo Gallery (Downloadable Pictures)
Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family is also called Chen
Clan Academy or Chen's Lineage Hall which was a place both
for offering up sacrifices to ancestors and for study. Now
it serves as Guangdong Museum of Folk Arts and Crafts to
show the most characteristic Guangdong architecture. The
Chen Clan Ancestral Temple in Guangzhou City, the Ancestors'
Temple in Foshan City, the former Residence of Sun Yat-sen
in Zhongshan City and the Opium War Memorial Hall in
Dongguan City are regarded as the four major cultural
tourist sites in Guangdong Province.
In the late of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a man named
Chen got the third place in the highest imperial examination
and had conferred upon him a distinguished office title
which made the Family Chen well-known. Later someone
suggested that all the Chen's families raise money to build
a temple to sacrifice to the ancestors and encourage their
offspring likewise to study hard. Therefore, the temple was
finished in 1894 with the money donated by Chen's families
in 72 counties of Guangdong Province as well as some
overseas members of Family Chen.
The temple is a compound complex consisting of nine halls,
six courtyards and nineteen buildings connected by
corridors, all separated by walls from the outside world. A
pair of stone drums in front of the entrance door, measuring
2.55 meters (about 8.36 feet) in height and two colored
drawing pictures of door-god of four meters (about 13 feet)
height are said to be the best in Guangdong.
The compound was constructed in the traditional Chinese
symmetrical style and the main hall, the Juxian Hall is in
the center of the temple. Juxian Hall was once a place for
clansmen to assemble before the establishment of the temple
and now it is used as an ancestral hall. In front of the
hall is a stone gazebo surrounded by stone balustrades. In
the hall there is an exquisitely carved folding screen which
is an excellent example of woodcarving.
(TravelChinaGuide.com)
