史料原文/譯文This Ancestral Shrine is a traditional Hakka Sanheyuan (three-section compound). Like Hakka people, plain and poised, the Shrine's external facade bears no extravagant decoration or overwhelming rooftop collage arts. It also features fine red bricks and stonework.
In 1777, the family's pioneering ancestor came to Taiwan, did well in Longtan with tea business and became the area's first rich folk. The lineage's 4th generation moved to its current location, and built the Ancestral Shrine that was completed in the 5th generation.
This is a traditional Hakka Fo^ Fong (multi-family courtyard house), with one main hall and four row houses' layout, a three-bay in the front spacing, plus a corner window turned into aperture. This is a laying-beam structure with sun-dried and flat planks with stuffed bricks. The current resident pointed out the Shrine's beams, stone foundations and red bricks are mostly original. Both woodwork and over 2000 pieces of marble granite supplied directly from China's Fujian Province, and leadership from Tangshan's famous craft masters made the Shrine possible. The exquisitely unique swallow-tailed red bricks were produced, under strict quality control, in a kiln from the Jiangs, the area's well-known family business.
After several renovations, the more-than-130-year-old Shrine still carries the stone-carved bamboo-shaped windows; together the red bricks with blessing carvings on the external wall make for exquisitely graceful features of the Shrine.