Guangzhou Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is a very historical and cultural heritage of ancient relics, and now still retains a large number of ancient elements, for the inheritance of Chinese culture plays a very key role, is an ideal excursion to God's Resort, the following to share with you the specific opening hours.
Opening time:
9:00-17:30 (17:00 stop entering the museum, 17:15 clearing, 17:30 closed) open all year round, no closing day.
Ticket price: 10 yuan/person
Chen's Academy, also commonly known as the Chen Family Ancestral Hall, is located on Zhongshan 7th Road in Guangzhou and covers an area of 15,000 square meters, making it an outstanding representative of the typical Lingnan Ancestral Hall-style architecture.
The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is a collection of Lingnan wood carvings, brick carvings, stone carvings, gray molding, ceramic molding and painting and other decorative arts, which is a museum of folk decorative arts in itself, so in 1994, at the same time, added the Guangdong Folk Arts and Crafts Museum sign.
Chen Ancestral Temple roof decorated with a large number of brick carvings, such works of art, "insiders look at the doorway, outsiders see the fun," as Guangzhou's famous tourist attractions, if not a professional or practitioner, it is difficult to see the doorway, the majority of tourists purely for the purpose of watching the fun.
Because the roof is at least 10 meters away from the ground, standing on the ground looking up at the roof, you can only see the rough outline of the brick carvings, if not with the help of binoculars tool, it is difficult to see the work on the shape and other more details.
While there is no professional telescope, but now the smartphone is too rich, using the camera telephoto function as a telescope, magnified 5-15 times, you can clearly see a variety of brick carvings of animals, people and a variety of flowers and plants modeling, each brick carving works of the name, the author, the age of the work can be seen, and even a few of the works on both sides of the carvings of a couplet. (All the pictures in this article are taken by cell phone pulling above 5X.)
Would not think of pulling the camera close to the brick carving works, exquisite, lifelike, not only has a high decorative role, there is also a very high artistic attainments and appreciation value, known as the Lingnan folk decorative art treasures, so that even if it is a "look at the" layman, at the same time as accepting the beauty of the art of an inculcation, up a lot of brick carvings! Knowledge.
What is brick carving?
With a chisel and wooden hammer in the finished brick surface depth carving, drilling and playing a variety of figures, flowers and other images, as a part of the building on the decorations.
In terms of subject matter, the brick carvings are mainly of dragon and phoenix, two immortals, Liu Hai playing the golden toad, three suns, Guo Ziyi's birthday, the unicorn sends his son, the lion rolls the embroidered ball, the pine and cypress, the orchid, the bamboo, the camellia, chrysanthemums, the lotus, the carp, the blessing of fortune and longevity, and so on, which are mainly meant to symbolize good luck, health, prosperity, and other contents.
Characteristics of Guangdong brick carving
Brick carving since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, began to be popular in the Guangfu area, to the end of the Qing Dynasty to the development of the heyday, the formation of a unique Lingnan characteristics of brick carving. In terms of technical performance, compared with some coarse and large-scale brick carving in the north, Lingnan brick carving using garden carving, high relief, hollowing and other techniques, meticulous and varied, regular lines, smooth lines, more delicate, interesting!
, representative of the Guangfu brick carving, full of details of interest
Set Lingnan brick carving of the great, delicate, beautiful, using refined water-worn bricks as the material, customarily referred to as "hanging line brick carving". Mainly out in several parts: facade, lintel, porch door (plaques, plaques), Edward and so on.
To have auspicious symbolism of flowers and birds and beasts of predominantly diverse materials, colorful forms of expression. Some patterns taken from historical masterpieces, allusions, such as "Water Margin" in the "Liangshan Gathering", the list of gods in the "Jiang Ziya worship", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the "Tongue" and so on.
War of Tongues
The Gathering of Liangshan (with a couplet)
For example: this one, "The Gathering of Liangshan", which is set against the backdrop of a stage in a play, with the tall and majestic Gathering Hall in the center, and the pavilion behind it. On the wooden pillars on both sides of the hall is a couplet that reads, "The heroes of the ages are all over the universe, and the righteousness of the autumn is all over Qiankun". Chao Gai stands in the center of the gathering hall, Wu Yu, holding a feather fan, stands below Chao Gai, and then Lin Chong and others. ***52 figures, standing in the attic of the characters, different forms, rich expression, each probe, left and right, I do not know what to watch the fun.
Some patterns will symbolize and harmonize the two symbolic way to combine, such as the Buddha's hand, "Buddha" and "Fu" harmonized, the peach metaphor for longevity, Buddha's hand and the peach carved together, implying more blessings and longevity; lion lion pattern, implying that the promotion of the Government and wealth, The big lions and small lions pattern, symbolizing promotion and wealth, and so on.
For example: this one of the five Lun Quan Tu. Carved on the phoenix, cranes, mandarin ducks, ___, warbler five birds, and the inscription "wind from the flowers dance, spring into the birds can speak." The "Five Lunas" refers to "the righteousness of the ruler and his subjects, the affection of father and son, the difference between husband and wife, the order of the young and the old, and the trust of friends".
Some patterns are also accompanied by popular poems, such as: appear in the main hall of the Edward brick carving, under the carp pattern. Separately made Meng Haoran's "spring dawn": spring sleep does not realize the dawn, everywhere heard the crowing birds. Night to the sound of the wind and rain, flowers fall know how much; Li Bai's "Silent Night Thoughts": the light of the moon in front of the bed, suspected that the ground is frost. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do this, but I'm going to be able to do it," he said.
Li Bai's "Silent Night Thoughts"
Meng Haoran's "Spring Dawn"
Some of the patterns are also a combination of Chinese and Western beads, for example: the cherub pattern. The cherub has a bun on its head, a small bib, and small pants. The image of a Chinese child + a Christian angel on the decoration of a Lingnan building reflects Guangzhou's spirit of tolerance and multiculturalism.
Some of the brick carvings will be cleverly integrated into the safety of certain parts of the protagonist of the pattern, for example: the tentacles on the head of this carp, very imaginative and vivid, both part of the carp body, at the same time, can also be used as a lightning rod.
Through the above examples of the tube in the leopard, worthy of the carving process, Lingnan decorative art treasures.