Ye Shi Memorial Hall - A Cultural Landmark in Rui'an

The Ye Shi Memorial Hall is situated beside the bustling Dongjie Commercial Street in Rui’an a[...]

The Ye Shi Memorial Hall is situated beside the bustling Dongjie Commercial Street in Rui’an and the ancient Xincheng ferry terminal, built along the Luochuan River, a tributary of the Wenzhou Tang River. The memorial hall consists of three sections and six floors, with a total construction area of 1280 square meters. It features bluestone balustrades and eaves adorned with paintings, showcasing a unique architectural style that blends ancient and modern elements.
The top floor, the sixth level, is a Song-style antique building named ‘Shui Xin Pavilion,’ which is quite beautiful and has become a brilliant cultural landscape. Ye Shi (1150-1223), styled Zhengze and nicknamed Shui Xin, was born in Rui’an County and moved to Yongjia (now Lucheng District, Wenzhou City) with his father at the age of 13. He was a Southern Song Dynasty thinker and the culmination of the Yongjia School of thought.

Ye Shi developed the practical ideas of Xue Jixuan and Chen Fuliang into a theoretical system and advocated practical ideas from the perspective of solving the practical politics of the Southern Song Dynasty, making the Yongjia School one of the three major schools during the Southern Song period, alongside Zhu Xi’s Daoism and Lu Jiuyuan’s Mind School. His theory of practical achievements has had a profound influence on the formation and development of the ‘Wenzhou Model,’ which is a source of Wenzhou’s development.

In recent years, he has been successively rated as one of the top ten historical outstanding figures in Rui’an and Wenzhou.

The memorial hall is open all year round from 08:00 to 17:00, with the specific operating status subject to the daily opening situation.