The tale of Longchuan

The 1600-year-old Hu Family Ancestral Hall was constructed at the time of Longchuan Village's establishment in accordance with the principles of Chinese geomancy, or "Feng Shui," historically used in China to orient buildings. The Hall is situated on the Longchuan Creek's northern bank, which is highly favorable from a feng shui standpoint because it is surrounded by mountains and water. Indeed, to the south lies the Longxu Mountain Range, to the east the Dengyuan River and the Longchuan Village entrance to the west – between the feet of Chaohu and Feng Mountains. The main purpose of the Hu Family Ancestral Hall was to serve as a venue for extended family meetings and ancestor worship.

The auspicious location of the Hall chosen by Hu Yangong carries his expectation that future generations would flourish. Indeed, Hu Yangong hoped that his descendants would become senior civil servants, equal in rank to imperial officials who had the right to meet the emperor with "chaohu" in hand - the term "chaohu" refers to a flat staff made of jade that senior-ranking officials in dynastic China would bring to their meetings with the emperor for the purpose of note-taking.

The architectural features and decoration of the Hu Family Ancestral Hall incorporate many ideas from ancient Chinese philosophy. For example, the 20 wooden doors on both sides of the main hall are notable for featuring the eminent Ming dynasty artist Xu Wei's lotus-shaped carvings and flower, bird, insect and fish carvings. The presence of the disparate carvings together indicates that the Hu family's solidarity allows it to prosper and enjoy harmonious relations with the world. Indeed, the promotion of the idea of "harmony culture" originates from the Hu family's cultural tradition. Among the different carvings in the Hall, of particular note are the lotus and crab wood carvings on the first door on the left side of the main hall. Pronounced together as one word, the individual words for "lotus" and "crab" in the Chinese language form a homophone for "harmony," which has been the Hu family's motto for nearly 400 years.

Hu Family Ancestral Hall