Chen Clan Temple

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Located at Zhongshan 7th Road, the Chen Clan Temple is an academic temple in Guangzhou, China, built by the 72 Chen clans for their juniors’ accommodation and preparation for the imperial examinations in 1894 in Qing Dynasty. Later it was changed to be the Chen Clan’ s Industry College, and then middle schools afterward. Now it houses the Guangdong Folk Art Museum. It was added in the list of“ Cultural Relics of National Importance under the Protection of the State” in 1988.

The Chen Clan Temple is a symmetric complex and consists of nine halls, six courtyards, several wing- rooms and long corridors. Facing south, the complex forms around a north- south axis. On the main axis lie the Head- entrance, the Gathering Hall and the Back Hall. These three main buildings are separated with courtyards. The Chen Clan Temple complex exemplifies traditional Chinese architecture and decoration style and has influenced cultural and architectural developments worldwide.

The Head- entrance is 27. 56 meter wide and 14. 91 meter deep with 17 columns, all decorated with flowers and figures. On the top of the gate of the Head- entrance hangs a tablet with words, meaning“ Chen Clan Temple”. On the sides of the gate sit stone mats and a pair of 2. 25 meter high stone drums. River Gods are painted in color on the gate. Inside the gate there are four double- side engraved screen. The main beams are decorated with birds， flowers, human figures plasters, bats and lions.

The Gathering Hall was once a place for meeting and worship of the Chen clansmen and now it is used as an ancestral hall. It is 27. 84 meter wide and 16. 7 meter deep with 21 main beams and 6 stone craved columns. In front of the hall lies a stone gazebo surrounded by stone balustrades. Inside the hall sit twelve engraved folding screens. The pottery sculptures on the beams are renewed in 1981.

Memorial tablets of ancestors were placed on a 21- step wooden shelf in the Back Hall, which was once used for worship of ancestors. In the rooms sit 7- meter- high wooden- carved niche covers.

The Chen clan Temple is notable for the rich decorations which exist inside, outside the halls and in almost every beams, ridges, walls and columns. This makes the Chen Clan Temple a large collection of wood carving, stone carving, brick carving, pottery, plaster and iron engraving.