The ancestral hall culture in the northern area of the Dong nationality is the product of the combination of the Dong nationality's Kuan culture, the Miao nationality's Yixi culture and the Han nationality's clan culture, among which the ancestral hall culture and customs of Tianzhu County are the main representatives. There are ancestral halls in all 16 towns and villages in the county. The ancestral halls are mostly in the four towns of Benchu, Yuankou, Baishi and Wengdong in the lower reaches of the Qingshui River, Jiangdong and Shexue Township. There are more than three ancestral halls in Xinzhou Village of Baishi Town and Shexue Township. Tianzhu County is located in the easternmost part of Guizhou Province, bordering Jingzhou, Huitong, Zhijiang, Xinhuang County of Hunan Province and Sansui, Jianhe and Jinping County of Qiandongnan Prefecture. It borders Hunan Province, Huitong, Zhijiang County to the east, Jingzhou and Jinping County to the south, Jinping and Jianhe County to the west, and Sansui and Xinhuang County to the north. Tianzhu belongs to the third-level descending erosion surface at the eastern end of the Guizhou Plateau, and is a low-middle mountain, hilly and valley basin extending from the remnants of the Miaoling Mountains. The terrain is high in the northwest and southwest and low in the northeast; it is located in the mid-subtropical hot and humid monsoon climate. The Qingshui River flows through five towns and flows into the Yuan River. Here, there are picturesque mountains and clear waters, crisscrossing paths, pine and fir forests, and verdant bamboos. The historical evolution of the Dong ethnic group's ancestral hall culture can be reflected in the following three aspects: In the early days, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the emergence and development of timber trade in the northern Dong area, the Han culture in the Hunan and Xiang regions was introduced into the Dong area along the Qingshui River Basin in southeast Guizhou. The Han ancestral hall culture had a significant impact on the traditions of the Dong people. The traditional Han ancestral hall culture began to become popular in the Dong area in the late Ming Dynasty. The earliest Baishi Yang's ancestral hall was built in the fourth year of Tiancong in the Ming Dynasty (1630). It has undergone seven major repairs and has a history of nearly 400 years. Middle period. Most of the ancestral halls in the Dong area were built during the Kangxi and Qianlong heyday of the Qing Dynasty. So far, it has been repaired at least three times, with a history of nearly 300 years. After that, the ancestral hall architecture and various cultural activities of the clan surname have been enduring, becoming the most influential and dynamic folk cultural activities in the northern Dong area. In the late period, during the Cultural Revolution from the 1960s to the 1970s, most of the ancestral halls in the Dong area were destroyed due to the "destruction of the four olds", and some ancestral halls were used as schools or grain and oil warehouses and government offices in towns and villages. These ancestral halls were protected because they were occupied, but all the archways and facilities in the ancestral halls, such as the shrines carved with camphor wood and the tablets of the clan leaders, were all destroyed, and the ancestral hall activities of various clans were forced to stop. After the 1980s, with the country's reform and opening up and the rise of cultural construction, the ancestral hall culture of the Dong people in the northern region was restored and protected with the strong support of the masses of various clans, and the ancestral hall cultural activities were also continued. The ancestral hall culture in the northern region of the Dong people has a very broad connotation. Family temples and ancestral halls are important places for people's groups of various clans to worship their ancestors, remember their ancestors, display genealogies and discuss matters, educate clansmen, pass on civilization, inherit family traditions and perform cultural performances. The cultural customs of Tianzhu Ancestral Hall contain a wide range of contents, such as family history, migration history, religious system, etiquette and ethics. It is mainly manifested in the construction of the ancestral hall, which is built by clan members with collective funds and labor; the clan worship activities on Qingming Festival, where clan members worship their ancestors from time to time; the activities of exposing and revising genealogies on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, where genealogies are exposed to the sun to prevent insect bites or moisture; the formulation and implementation of clan rules and clan agreements, and the revision of relevant clan regulations and treaties; clan history and cultural education and clan moral norms training, inheriting the good morality and excellent traditions of ancestors; holding various literary and artistic activities, such as acting, singing, dancing, lion dance, etc. in the hall; volunteer organization and assistance within the clan, establishment of a board of directors of the same clan, appointment of people to guard the ancestral hall and assistance to the clan members in difficulties; inter-clan friendship and maintenance of harmonious community relations, maintaining the unity of the same clan and surrounding villages; inter-clan management and support for widows and orphans within the clan. Management of the same clan's fields, graves and other properties; other cultural activities. Such as dragon dancing, lion dance, singing folk songs, etc. Ancestral halls are built based on surnames. Some clans have one ancestral hall for each surname, while some clans have multiple ancestral halls for each surname, with the distinction between the main ancestral hall, the ancestral hall and the branch ancestral hall. Some clans have multiple ancestral halls for each surname. Surnames with large populations have more ancestral halls. After the ancestors of each surname built ancestral halls in the late Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, their descendants repaired, expanded and protected them from generation to generation, and passed them down. At present, there are more than 30 ancestral halls in Tianzhu that are well protected, and some ancestral halls that are seriously damaged are being repaired on the original site. Each surname uses the genealogy as a vein to compile a family tree. Even if they are separated by several generations or even dozens of generations, they can still recognize their ancestors and return to their clan. The inheritance is clear and there is no deviation. Tianzhu ancestral halls are spread across all townships and towns in the county, with many clan surnames and many ancestral hall groups. The following are the representative inheritors of the clan surnames of the ancestral halls: Yang: Yang Xiumou Li Jingzhi Wen Shaoyan Xianzhen; Yang: Yang Shengqun Zu Yide Diao Shizhu Fangming. Yao: Yao Yuanbang Yao Maolong Dunpei Lunhan Shuqing. The regional cultural characteristics of the ancestral hall culture in the Dong area are very prominent. The activities of the ancestral hall are linked by the clan name and transcend the boundaries of ethnic groups. There are Dong, Miao and Han people in the same ancestral hall. Ethnic groups that use different languages and wear different costumes live in harmony in the same ancestral hall. The ancestral hall can maintain the unity of the clan members and the harmony of the neighbors, inherit the excellent morality of the ancestors, maintain the harmonious coexistence of the local people, and inherit the excellent culture and noble spirit of the ethnic group and the clan. The architecture of the ancestral hall is also the product of the combination of various cultures. It is a stilt-style building with a wooden structure of one, two or three courtyards and a double-beamed roof. The outer ring brick wall is an eight-character archway. Some ancestral halls absorb Western Gothic architecture and traditional Chinese architecture into one. Some are two-wing buildings, and some are four-wing buildings; the roof is covered with small green tiles, and water is poured in front and back. The ancestral altar is set against the back wall of the main hall. The roof of the wing building is half-sloped, water pours into the patio, and there are flower windows. There are wooden railings on the second floor, and the eaves are downstairs. The main hall is decorated with camel humps supporting the cross beams and melon columns. There is a theater in the front hall before entering the gate. The downstairs of the stage is a passage. The left and right side rooms are connected to it as dressing rooms. The fence boards on the left, right and front of the stage are embossed with landscapes, figures and flowers. The cultural customs of the Tianzhu Ancestral Hall have been passed down from generation to generation and have a history of more than 500 years. The ancestral hall is a place for worshiping ancestors, remembering ancestors, posting genealogies and discussing matters, educating children to abide by laws and regulations, respect the elderly and love the young, be diligent and honest, unite neighbors, and punish unfilial piety. It is also a spiritual attachment for inheriting the excellent virtues of ancestors and promoting the fine traditional customs of the nation. There are many Tianzhu Ancestral Halls, but due to historical reasons, they have suffered serious damage. Many ancestral halls have not been repaired in time and are in a state of decay and collapse. Some do not understand the maintenance principles of ancient building protection and abuse modern building materials such as cement and tiles during maintenance, which also destroys the culture of the ancestral hall. At the same time, with the rapid development of the entire social economy, coupled with a large number of young people going out to work, fewer and fewer people understand the culture of the ancestral hall, and the ancestral hall culture is facing the crisis of extinction. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)