Longchuan Hu’s Ancestral Hall

Longchuan Hu’s Ancestral Hall is located in Longchuan Village, Jixi County, southern Anhui Province, also known as Kengkou. It serves as the clan temple for figures such as Hu Fu, a minister of the Ministry of Revenue during the Ming Dynasty, and Hu Zongxian, a minister of the Ministry of War. Originally constructed in the Song Dynasty and extensively renovated by Hu Zongxian during the Jiajing years of the Ming Dynasty, the hall faces south and is situated across a river from a screen wall. It consists of three sections and seven bays, with the original gate tower featuring a plaque inscribed by Wen Zhengming of the Ming Dynasty that reads ‘Longchuan Hu’s Ancestral Hall’. The main hall originally displayed a plaque inscribed by the King of Guangze (the uncle of Emperor Jiajing) titled ‘Ancestral Temple’.

The ancestral hall is built on a 1-meter-high platform and is divided into three sections, comprising a screen wall, gate tower, corridors, main hall, side rooms, a sleeping quarters building, and a special memorial hall, forming an organic whole. It embodies a serious, upright, and orderly rational spirit. However, while its spatial layout emphasizes rigorous balance, it also seeks flexibility and comfort; it conforms to and cleverly utilizes the natural environment, creating a loose, harmonious, comfortable, and balanced aesthetic for the overall space of Longchuan Hu’s Ancestral Hall. This spatial concept of architecture is the design principle for the layout of all types of Huizhou architecture.

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The front section is a 22-meter-wide, tall gate tower. The tower has six stone pillars, five moon beams, and four square beams on both the front and back sides, with a rigorous structure and symmetrical layout. The beams are carved with various exquisite patterns: the middle front one is engraved with ‘Nine Lions Playing with a Ball Amidst Brocade’, and the back one with ‘Nine Dragons Playing with a Pearl Amidst Stars’, while the side beams are engraved with different historical dramas.

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The middle section is the main hall of the ancestral temple, the place for holding ceremonies. It is constructed with 14 ginkgo cylindrical pillars, each with a circumference of 166 centimeters, supporting 19 melon beams of various sizes. The beam supports are carved with colorful clouds and ribbons, and the middle is pierced with dragons, phoenixes, lions, and tigers. On both sides of the main hall, there are floor-to-ceiling windows that are more than a meter high. Each window has a hollow-out pattern on the upper part and a flat panel carving on the lower part, mainly featuring lotus flowers with various stages of blooming; the leaves are depicted in different ways such as large and small rolls, flat on the water surface, stretched like an umbrella, and drooping like a hat. The scenes are adorned with lively images such as birds flying in the blue sky, fish diving underwater, ducks playing in the green waves, frogs leaping in the lotus pond, mandarin ducks intertwining their necks, and river clams opening and closing, all vividly depicted with exquisite craftsmanship.

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The rear section is the sleeping quarters, divided into two levels. The doors and windows are carved with vases, created using a combination of relief and shallow carving techniques.

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For the specific opening hours and business status, please refer to the daily opening conditions.

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