Subscribe to free Email Newsletter

Built in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), emperors of the Ming-Qing (1644-1911) period offered sacrifices to their ancestors at the temple. Covering an area of over 200mu(1 mu=1/5 of a hectare),the rectangular temple is 475 meters long from south to north and 294 meters wide from east to west. There are three rings of walls that divide the entire temple into front, middle and back sections. The main hall, 11 bays wide and four bays deep, stands at the center of the whole construction group, covering an area of 2,240 square meters. With a double-eaved hip roof, the hall rests on a three-layered white marble Sumeru base surrounded by stone railings. The beams and columns are covered in sandalwood andnanmudecorations made of rare spun gold.There are 15 rooms located on both sides of the main hall.

Memorial tablets in the east rooms commemorate imperial family members who had achieved meritorious deeds throughout the ages. Memorial tablets to great people from other family clans are enshrined in the west rooms. The main and back halls have nine rooms and hip roofs covered with yellow glazed tiles. The Royal Ancestral Temple is famous for its cypress trees, most of which are hundreds of years old. The temple was rebuilt into a Peace Park in 1924 and renamed the Labor People's Cultural Palace in 1950.