Huize Rong Family Ancestral Hall

In 1912, the Rong family built an ancestral hall on Lingbi Road in Huize County, Yunnan Province. They aligned the structure from south to north, matching the natural slope of the land. Today, this 1,756-square-meter complex sits inside the campus of Huize County No. 1 Middle School, directly west of the Huize Confucian Temple.

Visitors enter through a three-bay gatehouse, which spans 13.2 meters. Its double-eaved, hard gable roof rests on a post-and-beam frame of brick and wood. Beyond the gatehouse, stone steps rise toward the main hall at the rear, passing through a traditional layout of four courtyards and five patios. Side wings, a kitchen, a granary, and a western garden flank the central axis.

Human hands have shaped this space across generations. When builders raised the hall, they planted cypresses that still stand alongside an ancient hackberry tree at the entrance. Inside the courtyards, the family planted gold and silver osmanthus trees. In 2006, school gardeners added magnolia and begonia trees to complete the traditional botanical pun for "gold and jade filling the hall."

The sensory life of the hall persists. In autumn, the sweet, heavy scent of gold and silver osmanthus blossoms fills the air. Visitors can feel the rough, weathered bark of the century-old cypresses and the cool surface of the stone steps. The sound of student voices now replaces ancestral rites. Enclosed by the school since 1926, the municipal-level heritage site serves as a space for student clubs, a family tradition museum, and a literary society.