Huize Niu Family Ancestral Hall

At No. 483 Zhongping Road, the Huize Niu Family Ancestral Hall stands directly west of the historic Dafo Temple. Built during the Qing Dynasty, this north-facing, three-entry courtyard complex spans a historical footprint of 2,100 square meters. It is a place where private clan memory and national history converge.

In the first courtyard, visitors encounter the Yueya Tang, a semi-circular moon pond measuring twelve meters across and two meters deep. Bamboo leaves drift onto the water, where small red fish swim beneath the surface. Nearby, two purple magnolia trees, planted over three hundred and fifty years ago, cast their shadows. Steps lead through a circular archway to the second courtyard, dominated by a blue-brick screen wall. This wall, measuring 21.6 meters long, features green tiles arranged in plum blossom patterns. The third courtyard follows a traditional "four joints and five skywells" layout. Here, the main hall displays traditional vermilion lacquer and azure-green paint, edged with gold powder. An ancient cypress tree rises from the central skywell. Beneath this tree, the layers of the past remain visible.

The hall carries the memories of diverse occupants. Its original owner, Niu Shi, studied at a Qing-era military academy, joined the Xinhai Revolution, and wrote a treatise on border defense. Decades later, on May 2, 1935, the Ninth Army Group of the Red Army arrived in Huize. Commander Luo Binghui and Political Commissar He Changgong established their headquarters inside these wood-and-stone rooms. From this quiet courtyard, they directed the capture of the county, recruiting fifteen hundred soldiers and securing one hundred thousand silver dollars.

After the revolution, the building underwent a surprising transition. From the 1950s until 2003, the Xuanwei Motor Transport Headquarters used the ancestral hall as the Huize Bus Station. Commuters and diesel buses replaced soldiers and clan elders, leaving their own marks on the ancient flagstones. Today, preserved as a cultural monument, the hall invites visitors to stand beneath the same towering cypress that shaded generals, revolutionaries, and travelers through the centuries.