My maternal great grandmother married one of the three grandsons of Ruolin Chen, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the Qing Dynasty. One of his great grandsons Baochen Chen also served in important Imperial positions in the Qing Dynasty and later became the tutor of China’s last emperor Pu Yi.


Ruolin Chen (1759-1832)

The family temple, located in Luozhou, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, was redesigned twice under the supervision of Ruolin Chen and Baochen Chen, respectively. The temple displays the plaques and couplets from emperors such as Guang Xu and senior Imperial officials such as Hongzhang Li and Zhongtang Zuo.

Plaque from the Emperor Guang Xu


The couplet from Hongzhang Li

In the center of the main hall is the motto the ancestors wanted all descendants to remember:

Honesty and kindness help the family prosper

Never let disagreements jeopardize family bonds

Instead of encouraging descendants to simply work hard or study hard to be as successful as them, the ancestor urged the younger generation to be kind and honest people open to disagreements and differences.

The main hall of the family temple

Coco Kee
New York