Tianjia ancestral hall

Tianjia ancestral hall is located in laoyingshao Street on the North Bank of Tuojiang River. It was first built in 1837. It was built by Tian Xingshu, a Miao nationality of Fenghuang nationality who was the imperial envoy and governor of Guizhou Province.

Tianjia ancestral hall

Tianjia ancestral hall is located in laoyingshao Street on the North Bank of Tuojiang River. It was first built in 1837. It was built by Tian Xingshu, a Han nationality of Fenghuang nationality who was an imperial envoy and governor of Guizhou Province. At the beginning of the Republic of China, Xiangxi garrison envoy and KMT general Tian Yingzhao (the son of Tian Xingshu) spent a lot of money to complete the construction.

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Fenghuang Tianjia ancestral hall

This is a clan ancestral hall complex with strong national characteristics. There are more than 20 houses including gate, main hall, stage, patio, Tianchi, cloister, as well as "Wufu" and "Liushun".

There are six fan-shaped steps in front of the gate of the ancestral hall. There is a wide terrace in front of the terrace. There are three gate buildings. The middle gate is octagonal. The two sides of the second gate are built with green bricks. There are a pair of stone elephants and a pair of stone drums, which are very imposing.

Tianjia ancestral hall in Shangyu

The Tianjia ancestral hall in Shangyu was built in 1753. It was renovated in 1772, 1871 and 1915 respectively. Shangyu Tianjia ancestral hall and Fenghuang Tianjia ancestral hall have the same family culture, but the history of the former is 84 years earlier than that of the latter! If it were not for the destruction of the cultural revolution and recent years, the cultural relics and tourism value of Shangyu Tianjia ancestral hall would never be inferior to that of Xiangxi Tianjia ancestral hall.

The Tianjia ancestral hall in Shangyu was originally planned to be renovated in 1912, but it was postponed for two years because the construction funds supported the revolution of 1911. The ancestral hall rebuilt in 1915 is a "modern new ancestral hall" integrating the functions of school and ancestral hall. The main part of the ancestral hall is a large-scale charity school "Bauhinia primary school".

Behind the stage is a two-story building, with teachers' dormitories above and offices below. On the opposite side of the stage is the main hall of the remaining "Bauhinia hall", separated by a patio. On the East and west sides of the patio are two-story school classrooms, with an ambulatory connecting the teachers' dormitory on the south side. When acting, the second floor also serves as a box for female guests and children. Inside the Bauhinia hall, there are 48 two-story high and thick stone pillars, all of which are made of whole stones. Apart from the 12 pillars in the East and West rows, the 36 pillars in the middle are couplets carved with stone or semi-circular wooden shell. Among them, 15 are left by 14 famous people of 1911, and the other three are ancient couplets in 1772 and 1871.

The first stone antithetical couplet entering the gate is "Yu Yisu steams and tastes, you see and hear, as if on the left and right; Yanmen is handed down from generation to generation, and its words and deeds are reflected first." It is a rare "yangke". The so-called "Yang engraved", that is, the part next to the word is cut out, and the word is protruded. This couplet is decorated with a protruding pattern of twigs, which is like a huge seal, imposing. The process of "Yang carving" is much more complicated than "Yin carving" (character concave). Carving on such a tall stone column is very rare. There were at least 108 stone pillars in the ancestral hall, 6.5 meters high and 1.2 meters in circumference. You can imagine how magnificent they are! Fortunately, the stone pillars are well preserved.

The "Bauhinia hall" is an open hall with no walls facing south (the walls and ceiling were added by the warehouse owner later, and eight stone pillars are still buried in the walls). 48 columns are arranged in 6 columns and 8 rows. Between the last two rows of pillars, there used to be a ladder type altar across the East and the west, called "Wannian terrace", for placing ancestral tablets. "Wanniantai" is usually blocked by a wall, and only opened during ancestor worship. The rest is used as a school auditorium. Later, the number of students increased, and the classrooms were not enough. The East and west sides of the Bauhinia hall were also separated into classrooms. In the back of the Bauhinia hall, there are the middle and back yard, the court hall, the warehouse, the dining hall and other buildings. On the east side is the charity Fengyin villa, and on the west side is a gymnasium with an area of about 1200 square meters.

According to the plan of Tianjia ancestral hall left by the genealogy, excluding the gymnasium and surrounding venues, the area of the enclosure is about 4200 square meters. The gate of Tianjia ancestral hall faces south, with high lintel, thick door plate and carved door god. Outside is the corridor and garden, then the wall. The wall is a solid wall, which is decorated with patterns of tiles. It is very beautiful. In addition to the main gate in the south of the wall, there are also doors in the East and West. In order to facilitate the people to get in and out, they never close the door.

It's a pity that this school of such scale, a new ancestral hall with the revolutionary significance of enlightening the people and opening up their wisdom, was demolished in this century, leaving only a lonely hall.

Best travel time

Tianjia ancestral hall is an indoor scenic spot, which is less affected by the weather. From the perspective of weather, the scenic spot is located in the west of Hunan Province, where the climate belongs to subtropical monsoon humid climate. The territory has a mild climate, four distinct seasons, sufficient light and abundant rainfall, with an average annual precipitation of 1300-1500 mm. The annual average temperature is 12 ℃ - 16 ℃, the average temperature in the hottest July is 24 ℃ - 27 ℃, and the average temperature in the coldest January is 1.7 ℃ - 4.3 ℃. The frost free period is 240-288 days. Tianjia ancestral hall is suitable for tourism in four seasons, and the best time is from April to November.

Address: laoyingshao Street on the North Bank of Tuojiang River

Longitude: 109.60387825966

Latitude: 27.950294355766

Tel: 0743-3228364; 0743-32

Tour time: 30 minutes - 1 hour

Traffic information: in the ancient city, on the upper reaches of the river, 8-10 minutes' walk

Ticket information: Phoenix tickets have been included

Opening hours: 8:00-5:30 in winter and 7:30-6:00 in summer