Built in 1420 during
the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), emperors of the Ming-Qing (1644-1911) period
offered sacrifices to their ancestors at the temple. Covering an area of over
200 mu (1 mu=1/5 of a hectare), the rectangular temple is 475
meters long from south to north and 294 meters wide from east to west. There are
three rings of walls that divide the entire temple into front, middle and back
sections. The main hall, 11 bays wide and four bays deep, stands at the center
of the whole construction group, covering an area of 2,240 square meters. With a
double-eaved hip roof, the hall rests on a three-layered white marble Sumeru
base surrounded by stone railings. The beams and columns are covered in
sandalwood and nanmu decorations made of rare spun gold. There are
15 rooms located on both sides of the main hall.
Memorial tablets in the
east rooms commemorate imperial family members who had achieved meritorious
deeds throughout the ages. Memorial tablets to great people from other family
clans are enshrined in the west rooms. The main and back halls have nine rooms
and hip roofs covered with yellow glazed tiles. The Royal Ancestral Temple is
famous for its cypress trees, most of which are hundreds of years old. The
temple was rebuilt into a Peace Park in 1924 and renamed the Labor People's
Cultural Palace in 1950.