The Zhong and Huang Ancestral Halls in Xiashan Village, Wuxuan, Guangxi.

The ancestral halls in Xiashan Village are owned by the Zhong and Huang families. The Zhong Ancestral Hall is on the left and the Huang Ancestral Hall is on the right. The two ancestral halls share a wall, which is very rare. According to the Huang Family Tree (first edition) collected by the villagers in December 1997 in Hong Kong, the Huang family in Xiashan Village moved from Wengyuan, Guangdong. The Huang Ancestral Hall was built in the late Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, and the "Wenkui" plaque is hung on the front door; the Zhong family also moved from Guangdong in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. The third ancestor, Mingliang, built the ancestral hall in the fourth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, and the "Fukui" wooden plaque is hung on the front door. The ancestral halls of the Zhong and Huang families are mainly in the Ming and Qing styles, with three entrances and three rooms. They are large in scale and have a complete architectural layout, including the main hall and side rooms. The entire ancestral hall looks rigorous in structure and elegant in appearance. The rafters carved with dragons and phoenixes are scattered throughout the ancestral hall, and the wooden pillars erected on the stone piers support the entire roof of the ancestral hall paved with black tiles. The doors and windows are carved with auspicious patterns, and the green bricks and black tiles, flying eaves and ridges are antique. In front of the ancestral hall is a half-moon pond. By the pond, a banyan tree with a tree age of several hundred years is still full of vitality. What is most surprising is that from the layout of the ancestral hall, the ancestral halls of the Zhong and Huang families are attached together and share a wall. The wall has a door to connect each other, and it is convenient to come and go when something happens. The reason why the two ancestral halls are built together, the villagers explained, reflects the unity and friendship of the Zhong and Huang families in Xiashan Village. The ancestors commemorated by the two ancestral halls are not brothers, although they are far apart in blood, but the two families are as close as brothers, so the ancestral halls are built together. Key cultural relics of Wuxuan County.