Luo Dongshu Temple

The ancestral hall of one branch of the Luo family in Huangshan belongs to the ancestral hall of the clan, commemorating Luo Dongshu, the 13th ancestor of the Luo family. It is considered to be the largest existing ancestral hall with excellent design and sculpture. It was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 1996.

Luo Dongshu Temple

Luo Dongshu ancestral hall, full name of Zhenjing Luo Dongshu ancestral hall, is located in Chengkan Village, Chengkan Town, Huizhou District, Huangshan City, Anhui Province. It is a brick and wood structure building in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, covering an area of 3300 square meters. Luo Dongshu ancestral hall was built by the Luo people to worship his ancestor, Luo Dongshu. It is one of the ancestral halls of the Luo family in Huangshan, belonging to the ancestral hall of the clan. The ancestral hall has a large scale and fine construction. Its architecture integrates "antiquity, elegance, beauty and greatness". It is a model of Huizhou ancient architecture and is known as "the first ancestral hall in the south of the Yangtze River".

In November 1996, the State Council announced it as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Historical evolution

Luo Dongshu temple was founded in the early years of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty. In the 19th year of Jiajing (1542), when the housu hall was about to be completed, the project was forced to stop.

In the year of Renzi (1617) of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, reconstruction began, and a pavilion was built on the back bed. After the expansion, Baolun pavilion was added to the main hall, and its wooden frame was directly installed on the purlin of the hall.

In the 1960s, when the Department of cultural relics was reviewing the Luo Dongshu ancestral temple, it found that the houbedroom hall was full of colorful paintings and exquisite wood carvings, which were of great cultural value, so it was reported as a provincial cultural relic protection unit. At the time of registration, the staff thought that the name of Baolun Pavilion refers to the whole building including the main hall and the upper and lower floors of the pavilion, so Baolun Pavilion appeared on the list of provincial insurance. Until 1996, when the State Council announced the fourth batch of national security units, it changed its name to Luo Dongshu temple.

In September 1981, Anwei Provincial People's government announced it as a key cultural relics protection unit in Anhui Province.

In November 1996, the State Council announced it as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Architectural features

Luo Dongshu ancestral hall is located in the West and faces east, including Zhaobi, lingxingmen, qiantianjing, two stele pavilions on the left and right, Yimen, two verandahs, worship platform, hall, houtianjing, Houshi, the female ancestral hall on the south side and the kitchen and courtyard on the north side. It has four halls and is symmetrically distributed along the axis, covering an area of 3300 square meters.

Zhaobi is in the front of the ancestral hall. It is a curved brick wall. Behind it is the Lingxing gate. Lingxing gate is composed of six pillars and five stone archways, and the top of each pillar is carved with the monster "roaring to the sky". The Lingxing gate and the walls on the north and south sides, which are the only way for villagers to get in and out of the village, constitute the first courtyard of Dongshu temple.

Behind the Lingxing gate is the instrument gate, which is composed of seven bays. There are side gates on the left and right of the main gate, and a pair of Baogu stones on both sides. The plaque of "Mr. Luo Dongshu's ancestral hall in Zhenjing" hung above the main gate. Zhijian and Jinjian are the unified rooms, which are called "office affairs" and "places for dinner". Yimen is also the second gate for the people to enter and leave Dongshu temple. Between it and Lingxing gate, the second courtyard of Dongshu temple is formed.

Behind the Yimen is a courtyard with an area of more than 400 square meters, which is surrounded by two verandas and Xiangtang. This is the third courtyard of "Dongshu Temple". There are wide corridors and flower beds in the courtyard, with North and South verandas on both sides. One side flows into the courtyard, which is the concrete expression of Huizhou people's idea of "fat water does not flow out". On the side of the courtyard near the hall of enjoyment is a platform paved with granite slabs, where pigs, sheep, incense candles and other offerings are placed when worshiping ancestors.

Behind the worship platform is the hall of enjoyment. There are 22 tall wooden lattice doors in the front of the hall, with overlapping beams and tight joints. Above the central screen wall, there is a huge plaque of "Yi Lun you Xu" written by Dong Qichang, a calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty. The hall is spacious and grand, and can accommodate thousands of people. Luo people not only worship ancestors, discuss business, hold celebrations and implement clan rules here, but also regularly display sacrificial utensils, ancestor statues, genealogy, imperial edicts, official letters, Royal treasures, and receive local officials and guests.

Close to the south mountain wall of Xiangtang, there is a "female ancestral temple", which is called "zenei", which means inside. It is used to place the memorial tablets of female ancestors of the Luo family. It faces east and West. It has no main entrance. Its area is less than one tenth of that of the male temple, and its height is only one third of that of the main building. From this, we can see that the Roche family not only respects women, but also shows the ethical thought that men are superior to women.

Behind the hall is the fourth courtyard of Dongshu temple. It is surrounded by the hall of enjoyment, the hall of back bedroom and the north and south walls. The patio here is narrow and deep, which forms a strong contrast with the spacious and bright of the third courtyard, giving people a dignified and solemn feeling. The back bedroom hall is the place where the male ancestral tablets are placed, and it is also the most sacred and exquisite place of the whole "Dongshu Temple". In front of the hall, there are three rows of broad blue stone steps leading to the main hall. Along the corridor, there are 10 huge stone columns. In the hall, there are 46 wooden columns. In the front of the hall, there are 26 black marble balustrades, with various bird and animal patterns, such as avoiding evil spirits. The carving is exquisite, and the round lion looks vivid and vivid. The wooden components in the hall, such as Dou Gong, que Ti, Liang tou and cha Shou, are either yunlang flowers, or vases, or flowers with exquisite and elegant designs. In particular, the carved "fish spitting water" sparrow is exquisite and wonderful. The beam frame is full of colorful patterns of folk burden style with bright and charming colors and elegant composition. Baolun Pavilion stands on the back hall.

Cultural relics

Mr. Luo Dongshu's Ci in Zhenjing

The plaque of "Zhenjing Mr. Luo Dongshu's Ci" is hung above the middle door of the ancestral hall, written by Luo Zhewen, leader of the national cultural relics expert group. The original plaque was inscribed by Guo Zizhang, Minister of the Ministry of war of the Ming Dynasty, and was destroyed during the cultural revolution. There are drum stones standing on both sides of the middle gate, which are called "hudui" by the people, and "mendang" is the four short garden columns with plaques on it. No matter how high or big your official is, you can't have more than half of the total number of door pawns. The number of door pawns is even more important. There are two below the third grade official, four above the third grade official, and six in the Qi family of the emperor's relatives. At that time, when the Luo family was an official, the second grade official was the right censor, and only four door pawns were built.

Ancient trees

In the middle of the middle gate of the ancestral hall is a 16 meter long and 4.77 meter wide corridor. The corridor is a passage for the ceremony. You can't walk in disorder if you are not senior. You usually go in and out from the hatchback corridor. On both sides of the corridor are Danlong, 130 square meters each. The original eight ancient trees, now only 400 years old silver osmanthus, are luxuriant and leafy, just like a natural bonsai. Every year, golden autumn flowers bloom, fragrant for several miles. Osmanthus trees are planted in the ancestral hall, symbolizing the family's prosperity. The bottom part of this osmanthus tree is four branches, which symbolizes the wealth of the four seasons.

wood

Xiangtang is 21.6m deep, 25.8m wide and 13.6m high. The grass stands on the top of the mountain. The pillars and beams are hugged by two people. The beams are gingko trees, and the pillars are golden South wood. They are all valuable wood. Moreover, the wood itself is insect proof. A pillar is worth hundreds of millions of yuan.

Horizontal plaque

On the top of the screen door is a gold horizontal plaque titled "Yi Lun you Xu" written by Dong Qichang, a great calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty. Its diameter is about 1 meter square, which can be called the most ancient plaque. In ancient written language, "Yi" means "laws" and "Regulations", while "Lun" means "three cardinal guides and five constant rules" and so on. "You" refers to the place, you long, you long, and "Xu" is the "order" of narration. The general meaning is that the people of the Luo family must sacrifice to their ancestors and teach their descendants according to a certain number of generations and in a certain order. Originally, there were more than 70 plaques hanging in the ancestral hall, but they were destroyed during the cultural revolution. Hong Xiaobing also went up several times, but they didn't come down because they were too big and heavy. Later, Luo's descendants pasted them up with paper to write that they should study hard and make progress every day. This plaque was fortunately preserved.

Baolun Pavilion

Dongshu temple was built in two phases. The back bedroom under Baolun pavilion was built by Luo Jiezhong, the 21st ancestor of the Luo family during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, because of the family event, it stopped and lasted for 70 years. The plaque "Baolun Pavilion" on the upper floor was written by Wu Shihong, a filial son of Huizhou in the Ming Dynasty. In the old attic, there were imperial edicts, official documents, huangbang, imperial gifts, national knowledge and literature. In order to reflect the emperor's extreme thought of "King above, Minister below".

Research value

Luodongshu ancestral temple has a unique architectural style and spectacular scale, which integrates ancient, elegant, large and beautiful. It has high research value from the perspective of art, aesthetics, history and sociology. The painted paintings and exquisite wood carvings of the ancestral hall are also of great cultural value. The architectural history and culture contained in this ancient ancestral hall of Huizhou in Ming Dynasty, and this ancestral hall culture have high historical, scientific and artistic value for the architectural style of ancient ancestral hall.

protective measures

In 1991, it was repaired and reinforced by the cultural relic. Later, it was sponsored by an Siyuan, an American friend, and the Hong Kong Chinese foundation for the restoration of cultural relics. Since 1992, it has been fully restored and completed in November 1993.

In June 2013, the State Administration of cultural relics started the restoration with a capital of 50 million yuan. In addition to 10 ancient dwellings such as luosihai house and luodongshu temple in Chengkan ancient village have been repaired and protected, including the construction of fire fighting and lightning protection facilities in ancient villages. The maintenance plan passed

Chinese PinYin : Luo Dong Shu Ci