Bao Ancestral Hall

Bao Ancestral Hall located at Taishun's Sixi Town in Wenzhou. First built in Ming Dynasty, it was reconstructed in the twentieth year reign of Qing Daoguang Emperor. The ancestral hall was divided into several parts. They are decorative gateway, outside parts, head door, fore room and main hall. And the decorative gateway has three wooden buildings, with a width of 7.24 meters, a depth of two rooms of 2.7 meters, double eaves and suspension roofs. The ancestral hall has a span of 5 rooms, a depth of 4 rooms. An 8.3 meters long, approximately 0.5 meters thick ridgepole hangs on the outside of the golden columns. “Phoenix plays with peony” was carved on the ridgepole and a trigram in the middle. People inscribed "Repaired in 27th Year Reign of Daoguang Emperor” along the edge counter clockwise. The ancestral hall uses a style of axle symmetrical layout, with enormous scale and elegant construction. In 1990, Zhejiang Provincial cultural relic bureau allocated funds for repair in coordination with the mass. 

Bao Ancestral Hall is Bao Zheng’s family ancestral temple in Northern Song Dynasty, a mere 2 kilometers north to the birthplace of Bao Zheng which is called Xiao Li Village (old name Xiao Bao Village). It was first built in Song Dynasty. The extant one left over by Guangxu Emperor of Qing Dynasty. It is a splendid-landscape hall surrounded by hills. To odd that, generally the ancestral hall doors are facing south, only this one faces north. It is said that Bao Zheng offended the powerful officials for his strict punishing wicked government officials, and the powerful officials entered repeatedly to emperor to slander Bao Zheng to conspire. Therefore, in order to vindicate loyally, Bao Zheng faced his family ancestral hall door to the north, to show "the generation after generation, never facing south". The extant ancestral hall has a depth of 4 rooms, which are built of blue bricks and small tiles. "Bao's Clan Genealogy ", "Bao's Filial Piety Discusses" and the portrait of Bao Zheng are displayed in the main hall. Nearby the ancestral hall there are many fables related to him.