Shajiao Village, which is located in Lecong Town, Shunde District of Foshan City, is renowned as one of the ancient Chinese villages in Guangdong.
There are many traditional Lingnan buildings preserved in the village,one of which is the Chen Shi Da Zong Ci (Chen Family Ancestral Hall), a well-preserved relic that as famous as the Chen Clan Academy in Guangzhou.
Shajiao Village is located in the southwest of Lecong town, which was born in the year 1157. The construction of Chen Shi Da Zong Ci started in 1895, which took five years to complete and cost 220,000 taels of silver, covering a total area of 9600 square meters.
It is an imposing and magnificent Chinese traditional building that lays emphasis on "the harmony between nature and man", providing a model of "stone carving, wood carving, brick carving, and lime carving") in Lingnan.
When you enter the Chen Shi Da Zong Ci, remember to bow your head below the normally closed door before stepping into it. The design of this door is to express the respect of the Chen's family for their ancestors by bowing, and it also warns Chen's offsprings to show respect to their ancestors with humility.
In the Chen Shi Da Zong Ci, the Wok wall (wok-handle-shaped pediment) and legendary auspicious animals, like kylins, awakening lions and brave troops, are integrated harmoniously with the Baroque, Rococo and even Acropolis-style architectures from Western countries. The Wok eaves in the southwest corner of the ancestral hall also have the sculptures of Matteo Ricci. No doubt that people will be deeply impressed by this over 100-year-old Lingnan-style building for the perfect combination of Chinese and Western cultures.
In Shajiao Nan Village, there is an ancient building complex-the Muboli Ancient Folk Houses. Here, a large number of ancient Chinese houses built in the late Qing Dynasty with three rooms and two corridors are well-preserved. Moreover, you can appreciate the complex with the Chinese and Western styles built by overseas Chinese in the early Republic of China.
Zhou Manji was a well-known architect during that period. It is said that it cost gobs of money to hire him to build a house. However, the characters of "Zhou Manji" can be seen everywhere, for example, on the Wok wall, the carving brick, the lime carving, the wall paintings, the Tanglong door (a large wooden frame with a dozen logs in the middle), the painted pottery railings, the Roman Columns, the stained glass painted screen windows and so on.
The entire complex consists of 17 lanes in the same size from the north to the south. Strolling through it, one feels like you are having a journey to the past.
Source:Yangcheng Evening News
