Ancestral halls

[kcchung]

Hello

Trying to understand what the ancestral halls are? Is there one ancestral hall for each clan?  Or is there one per province?

What is the purpose of the ancestral hall?

Does someone live there?

My husband's family 鍾 lived in Xinhui area of China.  I understand that most were destroyed in the 1950s, but some still remain.

Ginny

[gckimm]

Hi Ginny:

According to traditional Chinese belief, the spirits of the ancestors “reside” at three places: the grave, the family altar, and the ancestral temple.

The ancestral hall (Mandarin citang 祠堂), also known in English as the ancestral temple, sometimes called the family temple (Mandarin jiamiao家廟), is a building where members of a particular clan gather to honor their ancestors. An ancestral temple can serve clan members of a village or local area who all share common ancestors or, on a larger scale, it can serve all the clan members of a longer lineage. It is usually named after a certain ancestor, such the common ancestor of the clan members who first inhabited the village or the founder of the lineage. Inside the ancestral temple are wooden tablets representing ancestors; these tablets are arranged in order according the generation of the clan, with the highest tablets representing the oldest generations. In front of the tablets is an altar table for offerings. On the walls of the temple there may also be painted portraits of ancestors and/or wooden plaques inscribed with expressions of pride and gratitude.

In former times, the ancestral temple was the location of major clan celebrations. In Taishan, for example, when a young man married, he would go to the ancestral temple to honor his ancestors and take his new married name (hao/ho 號), which would be displayed for all to see. But the ancestral temple would be open on a regular basis for those wishing to offer prayers for good health, success, etc., in the same way that temples housing the images of traditional deities would be open.

Today, many old ancestral temples in mainland China have disappeared or have been repurposed. In my ancestral village in Taishan, the ancestral temple has been an elementary school for many years and everything that was once there is gone; only the name remains over the main doors. However, there is a resurgence in the construction/renovation of ancestral temples, thanks to freedom from the government and the enthusiasm and generosity of clan members both inside and outside China. A new ancestral temple dedicated to the founders of my clan lineage was just opened in Taishan at the beginning of 2016.

It is possible that your husband’s ancestral hall is still standing, but someone would have to go there to ascertain its condition.

Greg

[kcchung]

Thank you Greg - this is very helpful. I kept hearing references to an ancestral hall, and it was not clear to me what the purpose of it actually was.

Ginny

[kcchung]

I was rereading your post and looking back on the photos I took 30 years ago when I went to the village of my husband's parents. I took these 2 photos at the time. The first one is in my husband's village home.


The second one is my husband's mother village home.




Is this what constitutes the family altar? Are those prayers on the papers to the ancestors?

This is 2 more photos of the first one to hopefully read it better.

[jasonwu]

Hi Ginny,

Again, as with all other customs and traditions, the household altar also differs from region to region. I suppose that this is the traditional altar set-up in the region of Sunwui that your in-laws came from, since they are both generally the same. I will list the phrases in order of importance for each home:

Your FIL's home:

Larger altar on the right:

• Above: (An auspicious phrase) 慈光 "Merciful Blessings"
  
• Middle: (A deity) 南無大慈大悲觀世音菩薩 "The Merciful and Benevolent Goddess Guanyin," a popular female deity in Cantonese households
  
• Middle Right: (A deity) 善財龍女 "The Prosperity Boy and the Dragon Girl," the two servants of Guanyin
• Middle Left: (A deity) 孔雀明王 "The Wisdom King Mahamayuri," a buddha
• Ends: the two phrases of an auspicious decorative poem

Smaller altar on the left:

• Above: (An auspicious phrase) 榮昌 "Glory and Prosperity"
  
• Middle: (The family ancestors) 潁川郡堂上歷代宗親 "All Generations of Ancestors from the Hall of Wing Chuen Prefecture," referring to the Chung's who originated from Wing Chuen
  
• Ends: the two phrases of an auspicious decorative poem
  

Your MIL's home:

Larger altar on the right:

• Above: (An auspicious phrase) 恩光 "Gracious Blessings"
• Middle: (A deity) 南無大慈大悲觀世音菩薩 "The Merciful and Benevolent Goddess Guanyin," a popular female deity in Cantonese households
• Middle Right: (A deity) 總制三界伏魔關聖帝君 "The Demon-Slayer of the Three Worlds Holy Emperor Guanyu," another popular deity for households, businesses, police, and triads
  
• Middle Left: (A deity) 北方鎮天真武玄天上帝 "The Northern Heaven-Defender Black Emperor of the Sky," a marine deity normally called Bak Dai, the Northern Emperor, in Cantonese
  
• Far Right: (A deity) 玉封烽火五顯華光大帝 "The Jade-Granted Fire Emperor Huaguang," a deity responsible for controlling household fires and looking over opera troupes
• Far Left: (A deity) 正一伏虎玄壇趙公元帥 "The Proper Tiger-Slayer Black General Chiu," a deity that protects from evil spirits
  
• Ends: the two phrases of an auspicious decorative poem

Smaller altar on the left:

• Above: (An auspicious phrase) 昌盛 "Prosperity and Abundance"
• Middle: (The family ancestors) 天水郡堂上歷代宗親 "All Generations of Ancestors from the Hall of Tin Sui Prefecture," referring to the Chiu's who originated from Tin Sui
  
• Ends: the two phrases of an auspicious decorative poem

Many of the deities worshiped in the home are responsible for household duties and we would not see them in an ancestral hall. Normally, in a Cantonese ancestral hall, the last and largest hall in the complex would have a huge millwork altar built from the ground up to the ceiling, such as this one in Hong Kong. Each of the wooden spiritual tablets with metallic decorative ears on the altar have the names of a pair of ancestor and ancestress.

Building on Greg's point, there is no limit to where an ancestral hall can be built and who it would honour. In a village, it is customary to name the hall after the founding ancestor to specify the lineage of the clan which the hall serves, such as this one honouring a progenitor of my mother's lineage. In a larger village, a town, or a city, you may see a hall which is named after a clan where many lineages of that clan gather to honour their ancestors together, such as this Chung ancestral hall in Sunwui across the river from your FIL's township. This image was found toward the beginning of the Chung Uk Tsuen genealogy book but I am not sure if your FIL's lineage is associated with this particular hall. It is certain, though, that these ancestors also migrated from Heshan County like your FIL's ancestors did.

These halls were also used as schools in the past. My grandfather went to school in his ancestral hall in the village just north of his village. In his own village, there was a study hall/library which was almost like a miniature ancestral hall. Sometimes, in my region, "study hall" and "ancestral hall" are used interchangeably since they have similar floor plans and are used for the same purposes. During the early days of Communist China, many halls were torn down or turned into modern schools. Today, surviving halls are used as common areas for the villagers to socialize, host banquets, and worship their ancestors on special occasions.

Hope this helps!

Jason

[kcchung]

Jason - wow - this is fantastic. I've had these photos for 30 years and have been unable to get them translated. I knew back then I would eventually do my husband's research and figured while I'm here, I should take the photos as it looked like it was something important. I also took photos of the headstones when we visited them - Just in case.

I didn't think to ask about an ancestral hall, and I it didn't look like the village had one. It only had about 140 families in it.

.... such as this Chung ancestral hall in Sunwui across the river from your FIL's township. This image was found toward the beginning of the Chung Uk Tsuen genealogy book but I am not sure if your FIL's lineage is associated with this particular hall. It is certain, though, that these ancestors also migrated from Heshan County like your FIL's ancestors did.....

Sunwui is only less than 16 km from my FIL village. Would they really have more ancestral halls built when they only lived about 10 miles away?

I went back to Chung Uk Tsuen website to see if I could spot that ancestral hall, but didn't see it. I'm guessing that is where Cliff Chung must have borrowed the zupu which he posted. Wouldn't the ancestral hall contain it, if it survived?

So I looked up the goddess you mentioned - and it's a Buddhist - this is another thing I'll have to ask my MIL about.

Thank you again

Ginny


Thank you.

[kcchung]

Jason

I looked over your response again. Sometimes I have to read things multiple times before I see things

It's interesting that it says All Generations of Ancestors from the Hall of Tin Sui Prefecture," referring to the Chiu's who originated from Tin Sui

So that is new information on my research. The Age papers I had previously didn't list Tin Sui Prefecture. It only listed my MIL was a descendant of Chiu Di Chun , 趙大進  - so thanks to you I have another few lines for my family research.

So I took the charachters you found and put it into the translantor and it said Tianshu - is Tin Sui.  I then googled that and found it was in Gansu Province.

-----------

My Chiu clan descended from Chiu Di Chun 趙大進 . He came from Taishan to settle in the village Lian He 聯和 in San Jiang Township 三江鎮 towards the end of the reign of the Song Emperor Duanzong 宋端宗 sometime between 1276 and 1278. On the family altar papers displayed in the village home, it says the Chiu family came from Tianshui Prefecture. 天水郡 . Tiasnshui prefecture is part of the Gansu Province, China.

Thank you again.

Ginny

[FayChee]

Hi Jason,

I was amazed at your response to Ginny regarding the deciphering of her in-laws home Altars.

I have been wondering for several years about the faded wording around my dad's family Altar in his Ancestral home at Chaoyang Li.

My Nephew took these pictures of our home in 2014, and I would like to duplicate the Altar in my home.

If you can tell me what they say, and also in the same Chinese characters that I can copy and paste onto a new red banner, I would appreciate it very much. Also, do you think I should put a picture of my dad and granddad in the middle?

Thank you,

Fay Chee

[FayChee]

This is the Szeto Ancestral Hall in Dajin Village. My Elder Brother, Yui Sin Szeto, wrote the story about it. His brother still lives in our Village and tends to our Ancestral home.

[FayChee]

This small Altar was located close to the entrance of our home.

[jasonwu]

Ginny,

As usual, glad to be able to help! To answer the question about the need to have a local ancestral hall while there already being one 10 miles away - there isn't a definite answer for this. There aren't rules for where and how you can build ancestral halls and the building of these halls was directly affected by a clan or lineage's financial capabilities and sense of genealogical pride. We must understand that these halls were built in honour of a clan's ancestors and so the more prominent the ancestors and the more wealthy the clans the more halls would be build. There is another royal Chiu village in Doumen District of Zhuhai, which was once a part of Zhongshan County, that boasts three ancestral halls dedicated to three different ancestors. Click here to see an image of this village.

Though you are also correct about the number of residents in a village affecting the presence of an ancestral hall since we can imagine these spaces as community centres and naturally a larger population would create a greater need for communal spaces. (However, my ancestral village was just 180 families, which is not a huge number at all, and we still had an ancestral hall and a study hall!*)

However, as mentioned by many of the contributors to this forum, many physical pieces of cultural history, including these halls, were destroyed for the political agenda of creating a New China and torn down to extract building materials for blast furnaces during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. In areas with less poverty, such as the village in Doumen mentioned above, it may have been possible for the clans to preserve these pieces of history since the propaganda was catered mainly to the lower peasantry. After the turmoil, the ruined foundations of temples and ancestral halls were used to build schools and government offices. You may want to ask your MIL if she remembers the locations of the ancestral halls for your villages of interest because, considering the sizes of all the villages that we have discussed, it would be quite possible that they each had a hall at one point in history.

*It may be possible for the grand ancestral hall for your FIL's Chung clan to exist in Yangbian Village, instead of Mongshan Village, since our sources point to the former being the first Chung settlement in the area. If this is the case, it would be similar to my ancestral village's hall since we could have only afforded to build it with the support from our 5 sister villages which were all founded by descendants from my own village. Perhaps ask your MIL if the Mongshan villagers worshiped in Yangbian?

[jasonwu]

Fay Chee,

Sorry to have left you hanging for so long! It is amazing to see these traditional altars which no longer exist my own ancestral homes. You can owe this to the vacancy of the home during the Cultural Revolution which left it untouched! It is clear, however, that the spiritual tablet no longer exists on the shelf (where the vibrant red is observed). I know that my uncle in Taishan had our altars from our ancestral homes removed after he had a new altar created in his city home; this is because it would be disrespectful to leave an altar unattended and perhaps your nephew did the same?

What we see now are the decorative poems and calligraphy surrounding the altar, which are valuable but obviously less valuable compared to the actual ancestral tablet which represents the deceased. However, I will transcribe them anyway! They are as follows:

• Top: 百世其昌 "One hundred generations of such prosperity"
  
• Left: 燈耀銀臺花開一品 "Lamps illuminate the silver platform, flowers bloom to an ultimate" referring to the painted altar and the flower offerings
  
• Right: 煙浮寶鼎瑞接三台 "Smoke floats around the precious vessel, auspiciousness received in the three tiers" referring to the incense censer and the tiers of the altar
• Bottom: 滿堂吉慶 "A hall (home) filled of prosperity"
  

For the ancestral hall:

• Top: 春和司徒公祠 "The Ancestral Hall of Forefather Soo Hoo Chun Wo"
  
• Left: 瓶峰顧祖 "A bottle peak attends to the progenitors" I think this is referring to the location of the village in the mountainous inland of Kaiping
  
• Right: 秀水朝宗 "Elegant waters pilgrim to the ancestors" Again, animating the natural environment as filial offspring to the founders of the village

From my understanding, a traditional Cantonese house has 6 altars in total. They are as follows:

1. To Guanyin and other heavenly deities: located in the upper compartment of the main altar (Example: the deepest part of this Kaiping altar)
   
2. To the ancestors: located in the lower compartment of the main altar (Example: the stand-alone tablets in the previous image or, alternatively, the faded beige frame on this Kaiping altar)
   
3. To the landkeeping deity: located on the ground under the main altar (Example: what is seen near the feet of the man in white in this Kaiping home)
4. To Zhaojun, the kitchen god: located on the masonry stove in the kitchen (Example: what is seen in this modern Chinese kitchen)
5. To Tianguan, the Heaven god: mounted on the wall in the lightwell of the house (Example: what is seen in this Kaiping home)
6. To the gatekeeping deity: located adjacent to the main door (Example: the image you shared or, alternatively, what is seen in this Macau mansion)
   

I understand that what you want is to be able to honour your ancestors in your own home. Please check your emails shortly as I will share with you some ideas on how to create your own ancestral altar based on the information you have previously shared with me and the traditions drawn from my researches about Kaiping homes and diaolou's!

-Jason

[kcchung]

Jason all great points. I also thought Yangbian might be a possible answer for similar reasons that it was the initial area they settled and is only a few km away from Mong San.

I have a list of questions related to Religion and worship for her. I hadn't explored that area very much up to now. I think I'll need my eldest sister in law to act as translator.

You continue to amaze me at your depth of knowledge. This group definitely benefits greatly with your participation.

Ginny

[kcchung]

Jason

Regarding your answer to Fay Chee, the houses we saw in rural China were quite small. Where would they put 6 different altars?

I think I see the little altar in the kitchen on the side with the incense.

Would the papers at the front of the house be the gatekeeper ones?

 

[jasonwu]

Hi Ginny,

Indeed, the village houses in the Siyi region may be small but the devout Cantonese did not let that stop them from worshiping all the appropriate deities in their houses!

For the first image:
I can't quite read the writing but with its orientation facing the stove, the incense sticks placed in front, and the vibrant red colour I am almost sure that this is an altar to Zaojun, the kitchen god. Traditionally, on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th days of the last lunar month, families would worship Zaojun prior to his departure from the home to report to the Jade Emperor during Chinese New Year. Sweets are offered in hopes that he would have a "sweet mouth" and speak of only good things about the family. After Chinese New Year, families worship once again to welcome Zaojun back into the home. He was also responsible for controlling household fires.

For the second image:
What we see here are couplets, decorative calligraphy that are replaced every year at Chinese New Year. Read more about them in this Wiki article. The gatekeeper would be on either side of the door on the exterior or on the walls inside the main entrance. Sometimes they are on the ground. They can be a plaque with writing or just a simple wall-mounted incense censer with no writing at all.

Jason