Wang Xichan (Xiaoan as his assumed name) Memorial Hall is situated in Zhenze Middle School in Zhenze, consisting of the Wang Xiaoan Tomb, the Noble Wang Temple, the Xiaoan Bridge and so on from west to east. The tomb was built in the 22th year of the Qianlong reign in the Qing Dynasty (1683) with “The tomb of the profound scholar Wang Xiaoan” inscribed on the tombstone. The Temple was built in the 15th year of the Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty (1837). The Wang Xiaoan Tomb was listed as the key cultural relic under the protection of Jiangsu Province on March 25th, 1982 and the memorial hall was set in the temple in 1998.
The Noble Wang Temple has three rooms with flat roofs, facing south with its back to the north. A white marble sundial stands at the center of the front yard and a bronze Sanchen Dial stands in front of the hall. On one side of the entrance hall there’s a plaque of “Wang Xichan Memorial Hall”. The Wang Xichan sitting statue is laid out in the main hall of the temple with a plaque of “knowledgeable profundity” hanging over the statue and a stone tablet inscribed with a brief introduction of his life before it. There are two traditional Chinese paintings “night view of the sky” and “careful writing image” hanging on the two sides of the northern wall. The display cabinet in the eastern room exhibits the catalogue of Wang Xichan’s main works and some reproductions such as his literary remains, posthumous poems, calligraphy, and epitaph while the western room displays the evolution and photographs of Wang Xichan’s tomb, the study and commentary of him and astronomical maps and instrument models. On the eastern side of the temple, there is a Xiaoan Bridge, commonly known as the ancestral temple bridge, enjoying exquisite structure. It crosses the river running from east to west in front of Zhenze Middle School, which was built to commemorate Wang Xichan by later generations.
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