Shexian Tangyue Memorial Arches
About 6.5 kilometers away from Shexian County, Huangshan, there is a historically famous archway clusters called Tangyue Memorial Archway. It is the biggest and completely well-preserved archways extant in Anhui Province.
What's it like?
The Tangyue Memorial Archway Group consists of 7 arches. It arrays in the successive order of loyalty, filial piety, women's chastity and charity.
The Tangyue Memorial Arch Group is all made of green stones which are of good quality and produced in Shexian County. Don't use any nail or rivet at all. The skillful combinations between stones are astonishing. In addition, there are a large number of beautiful carvings in Hui style around the body of the arches.
Among The Tangyue Memorial Arch Group, three of seven are made in the Ming dynasty, and four are in the Qing Dynasty. Although they have a long history, the style of architecture is a successful combination of old and new, which seems a piece of works finished at a heat. These seven arches in turn are: the Baocanxiao Memorial Arch, the Cixiaoli Memorial Arch, the Jiexiao Memorial Arch of Wang, the wife of Baowenling, the Kindness Arch, the Jiexiao Memorial Arch of Wu, the second wife of Baowenyuan, the Baofengchang Dutiful Son Memorial Arch, and the Baoxiangxian Shangshu(a rank in ancient times in China) Memorial Arch. All these are memorial arches of Bao families of Tangyue village.
Stories about the Archway
Behind every archway, there is a touching story. The most acknowledged stories are the ones of 'Ci Xiao Li Archway' (Filial Piety Archway) and the 'Jie Jin San Dong Archway' (Chastity Archway). The 'Ci Xiao Li Archway' was built in honor of Bao Sheyan and Bao Shousun (father and son). According to historical records, father and son were captured by a general, who wanted to execute one of them. Bao Shousun wanted to sacrifice his life to save his father, so he begged the general to behead him instead of his father. Whereas, the father was also a loving and caring father and wanted him to be executed rather than his son. Their action and love moved the general, who finally released them. Later, the court knew the fact and approved the construction of the archway in praise of their filial piety and self-sacrificial spirit.
The construction of 'Jie Jin San Dong Archway' was in praise of a stepmother who remained chaste while raising her stepchild after her husband died. According to historical record, a widow with the surname of Wu, who was the second wife of Bao Wen, lost her husband when she was 29. After her husband's death, she remained chaste and treated her stepchild as her own son. Wu died 31 years later. Her action touched the local officials, who made up their minds to erect an archway to honor her in spite of the convention that erecting an archway for a step-wife was prohibited. This touching story has been passed down from one generation to another in Tangyue Village.
Around the Archways
Near the complex of the seven archways stand Nüci and Nanci, respectively also called Qingyi Ancestral Temple and Dunben Ancestral Temple. The ancestral temple was a place to worship the honorable women and men in the family of Baos. Nüci is particularly significant in studying the patriarchal clan system, because in China's feudal society, it was rare for women to have the privilege to be honored in an ancestral temple.
