Daily Life in China                  

Chinese village Citang:

Citang means hall or temple to honor ancestors.  Generally there will be an altar at the back of the citang with a platform for paiwei (tablets with names), pictures and statues representing the top (elder) ancestors.

This page has pictures of citang that are individual buildings, stand alone citang.  These are distinct from citang that are inside buildings such as large building complexes which is an old type.   There are also citang inside smaller homes in an alcove or separate room.  

Citang generally become individual buildings after complex of buildings that originally housed the citang fall apart over time. They get torn down and the bricks reused to build new individual buildings.  To the back left of this citang is the original structure that was the original main complex.  It is getting torn down but the family citang will stay.  This one was rebuilt about 15 years ago.

This citang also being updated.  The older large complex is almost all gone.  You can see part of one of the long older complex buildings to the left.  To the top of that building you can see the horse heads of the few remaining older buildings which will be gone in a few years.  This citang is very large and has a welcoming archway (paifang).  The front courtyard is largest I've ever seen.  It's currently being used to dry crops.  They probably made it this large so several families could dry crops at the same time.

Below: All of the original complex is gone and only the citang area remaining from the original complex.  The flying top part and overhand are new but the entrance way has the original stones.

Below: The very nice Lu family citang in Tieshan. This citang is probably on it's original footings which were once inside a large building complex.  The old complex is completely gone so modern buildings surround the citang.

Very nice citang just inside the Huangshi city limits.

A completely new citang. The stone steps by the entrance are probably from the old building but that's about all.