Tangyue Village
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Home to the largest and best preserved collection of stone gates in Anhui Province, Tangyue Village is filled with history and legends. Outside the town are seven stone gates. Each one was built to honor the achievements and virtues of the Bao Family members. Three of the gates were built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the remaining four were built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Every stone gate has its own story. The Ci Xiao Li Gate (Filial Piety Archway) was built to honor a father and his son; Bao Sheyan and Bao Shousun. The two men were captured in war and the opposing general was going to execute just one of them, and gave them the choice of who would die. The father and son both begged the general to execute him, instead of the other. The general was so touched by their love and virtue that he released them both. The gate was built in honor of them.
The Jie Jin San Dong Gate was built for a stepmother. The woman’s husband died leaving her to take care of her stepson. The widow remained chaste and raised her stepchild as her own. It was not allowed to built a stone arch in honor of a second wife, but the local officials were so touched by the mother’s love and virtue, that they had the stone gate built.
Near the seven gats stand two ancestral temples. The temples were a place to worship male and female ancestors. The temples are unique because in China’s dynasty periods, women were not honored in ancestral temples.
