aeeble

Wu's Scholar House, located in Shangku settlement of Shangqi Village, is the largest traditional house on Lieyu Island. Built in the 20th year of Daoguang (Qing Dynasty), it was constructed by Wu Jingshan, who made his fortune in shipping and salt fields in Shangku. The architectural style is a three-part large courtyard house with two-story side wings. After Wu Yushan, the fifth-generation descendant of the Wu family, passed the imperial examination and became a scholar in the late Qing Guangxu period, a study and school were set up in front of the traditional house to provide free education for local children. This act was deeply loved by the neighbors, so the people of Lieyu Township have long called the Wu family's big house "Xucai Gu" (Scholar's House), a name that has been passed down to this day. The layout and decoration inside Wu's Scholar House clearly distinguish between the main and secondary elements, with balanced symmetry on both sides. The front is the entrance hall, the back is the main hall, and the main hall has a shrine for the gods, a ancestral shrine, and photos of Wu's ancestors. The beams of the main hall are hung with a Heaven god stove, a Heaven palace lamp, and a son-adding lamp, on which the words "Yanling Yanpai" (the Yanling lineage) are written. In the left side wing, a "quiet room" is preserved for the owner to drink tea and perform Nanguan (a traditional southern music). The roof design of Wu's Scholar House is the most common "hard mountain two-water" style in Kinmen. It simultaneously features two types of roof ridges: swallowtail and horseback. On the swallowtail ridge, there are exquisite clay sculptures of people, animals, and landscape scenes, which are vivid and realistic. It is a grand and elegant traditional house with meticulous craftsmanship, well worth your careful appreciation.