A Brief Introduction of Liu Yong's Ancestral Residence

In recent years, the party committee and government of Huangdun Town have held three seminars on Liu Yong culture. Zhang Qifeng, professor of Weifang University, director of Liu Yong Institute, Zhang Chuanxi, professor of Peking University, and descendants of Liu (including a branch of Tugezhuang in Zhucheng) and other people from all walks of life unanimously recognized that Liu Yong's ancestral home was in Caojian Village. Caojian Village is located 8 kilometers northwest of Huangdun Town in Lanshan District, bordering Juxian County in the west. Formerly known as "Magpie Nest". It was renamed "Caojian" during Chenghua period of Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang (1368-1398), the founder of the Ming Dynasty, organized the largest migration activity in the history of China in order to consolidate the newly built Daming Mountain. In the third year of Hongwu (137), Liu Siyuan, the ancestor of the Liu family, and other clansmen moved northward from Dangshan County (now Anhui Province) in the south of the Yangtze River to settle in Xiquewo Village in Rizhao, where they thrived and gave birth to eight sons: Fu, Lu, Shou, Xi, Shi, Shu, Zhong and Hou. Later, due to the disaster of family fire, the Liu brothers were scattered everywhere, and only the fourth son Liu Xi accompanied Liu Siyuan to stay in his hometown. Liu Fu, the eldest son, and Liu Lu, the second son, moved to Daliujiagou Village (now Sanzhuang Town, Donggang District), Liu Shou, the third son, begged and settled in Liujia Zhuangzi (now Sanzhuang Town, Donggang District), Liu Shi, the fifth son, settled in Xiliujiagou (now Zhonglou Township, Juxian County), Liu Zhong, the seventh son, went to Liujiazhuang Village, lanshan district, Linyi, and Liu Houding, the eighth son, settled in Liujiadian, Yishui County. After this change, the magpie forest under the Phoenix Ridge is desolate everywhere, and Liu's family lacks the happy scene of the past. Liu Siyuan was deeply saddened by the news, so he renamed the magpie nest "Caojian" in Chenghua period of Ming Dynasty.

during the reign of Hongzhi in the Ming dynasty, Liu Fu entrusted his eldest son, Zhigan, and his second son, Zhizhen, to Liu Lugong, and moved with his third son, Liu Heng, to Bogezhuang (which belongs to Zhucheng County of Qingzhou Prefecture, now to gaomi city). After several generations of entrepreneurship, the family has gradually changed from poverty to well-off. Many of his descendants passed the imperial examinations, especially Liu Tongxun of the ninth generation, Liu Yong of the tenth generation and Liu Yong of the eleventh generation, all of whom served as officials in the imperial court. Liu's family became a "three prime ministers" and caused a sensation in the ruling and opposition circles.

In the last years of Daoguang reign of Qing Dynasty, Liu Yong's descendants funded the establishment of Liu's ancestral temple in Caojian village to pay homage to their ancestors. The ancestral hall covers an area of 1.2 mu, and there are boxwood, ginkgo and cypress trees in the courtyard. There are five main halls of the ancestral hall, which are made of brick and wood structure and hung with heavy beams and columns. There are two peaks in the east and west, and there are steel fork hands. On the front of the ancestral hall, the horizontal plaque of Qing 'ai Hall was hung, and the coffin of the first ancestor Siyuan was placed in the hall. In the middle of the ancestral hall, the position of Liu Yong, the heavenly official of the official department, was enshrined. On both sides of the incense table in front of the throne, there are three flag cards, golden melons, axes, pedal to the sky, half-stage luanjia, dragon and phoenix sticks, gongs and other ceremonial ceremonies. A pair of imperial gauze lanterns were hung on the eaves of the main entrance of the ancestral hall, which was radiant. The whole ancestral temple is magnificent and solemn. According to legend, all the civil military commanders who passed by here in the Qing Dynasty walked three miles away to Liu's ancestral hall to give gifts and pay homage. There are towering cypresses beside the ancestral temple, and an ancient locust tree on the east side of the woodland, which is about 5 meters high and thick and folded. There is a great white flint weighing several thousand kilograms in front of the forest. The descendants of Siyuan Gong are all over the country, including Zhucheng, Linyi, Juxian, Yishui and Ganyu, Jiangsu. Before the "four clean-ups", descendants of the Liu family often came to the ancestral tomb of Caojian to pay homage and mourn. The society is also called "Great White Flint Stone Liu".

there is Liu's ancestral forest in the southwest of the village, and there is a cliff in front of it as a natural screen wall. The brook on the Caojian River gurgles from northwest to southeast, surrounded by jade belts. There are 11 tombs of Liu Siyuan, the ancestor of Liu's first move, and his descendants here, which is a must-see place for Liu's family to seek roots and worship their ancestors over the years.

Caojian Village is backed by hills, looking from the south, and the three peaks are juxtaposed, just like a phoenix spreading its wings and waiting to fly, hence the name Phoenix Ridge. The east and west wings are lush with trees and green grass. In front of the village is a flat valley with dense bamboo forests and fertile land in Sang Yuan. Caojian River passes through the village, flows through Fenghuang Valley and flows south into Huangdun River. The nine stretches of mountains in Fenghuangling are like nine dragons, encircling the whole Caojian village into a pattern in which the stream in front is Suzaku, the mountain behind is Xuanwu, the mountain on the left is like Qinglong, and the mountain on the right is like a white tiger. The crescent river in front of the village is distributed in a belt like a water dragon, which echoes with the mountains on three sides to form a "three satellites, satellites and dragons" feng shui layout.