Ancestral halls (祠堂) are Confucian ceremonial spaces for worshipping ancestors or eminent figures. These structures serve multiple purposes: while ancestor veneration remains their primary function, they also host family events such as weddings, funerals, longevity celebrations, and other auspicious occasions. Notably, clan members often convene in ancestral halls to discuss critical communal affairs.
In contemporary China, the preservation status of ancestral halls varies significantly across regions. Such structures have become rare in northern areas, whereas southern provinces—including Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, and Jiangxi, which prioritize traditional customs—have preserved a larger number of ancestral halls.
As gravitational centers for lineage groups, ancestral halls hold profound cultural symbolism as monumental architectures. They represent both the socioeconomic development levels of localities and the essence of folk culture. From the perspective of folklorists, ancestral halls "interpret the civilization of their era through their very existence." As one of the best-preserved ancient architectural complexes in Chinese civil society, these halls provide invaluable historical and cultural research materials for future generations.
CnOpenData presents geographical distribution data of Chinese ancestral halls, incorporating information from two distinct sources. The dataset covers various types of ancestral halls—including clan halls (宗祠), lineage shrines (氏祠), communal temples (公祠), ancestral chambers (祖厅), family temples (家庙), branch shrines (支祠), and others—complete with latitude and longitude coordinates, facilitating related academic research.
Data Scale
Time Coverage
Source A comprises geospatial data of ancestral halls derived from map-based geographic information, while Source B originates from ancestral hall networks. Both datasets represent cross-sectional data acquired in 2022.
Field Display
Sample Data
中国祠堂地理分布数据-A来源
中国祠堂地理分布数据-B来源
Data Update Frequency
Annual updates