Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family, also called Chen Clan Academy or Chen's Lineage Hall is one of the must-sees in Guangzhou. In ancient China, it was a place for sacrifice but in modern China it changed into Guangdong Museum of Folk Arts and Crafts. This well-preserved ancestral structure shows the characteristics of Guangdong architectures with typical Qing Dynasty style.

The Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family was built in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). At that time a man named Chen ranked the third place in the highest imperial examination, since then the Family Chen became well-known by the locals. Later someone made a suggestion to build a temple to sacrifice the ancestors of the Chen Family and to bless their offspring to study hard and with the money donated by Chen's families in 72 counties of Guangdong Province and some overseas members as well, the temple started to built and finished in the year of 1894.

Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family is a typical Qing Dynasty style architecture that the main buildings are built along the central including the Main Entrance, Assembly Hall and the Rear Hall. Covering an area of 15,000 square meters, this Ancestral Temple totally consists of 19 structures, which are separated by courtyards and connected by the corridors ingeniously. In front of the Main Entrance there sits a pair of stone drums with the height of 2.55 meters. Also there has 2 colored pictures of door-god with the height of 4 meters. Both of them are said to be the best in Guangdong Province. Juxian Hall is the main hall located in the center of the whole temple.

The highlights and the most attractive part in the Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family are the various superb carvings extolling nature. With the materials of wood, brick, pottery, stone, lime and so on, all the carvings are delicate. Also in the temple there has four different themes of the pictures called "Qilin and the Phoenix," "Dragons and Orbs", "The Three Goats", and "Goldfish in a Pond". Chen's Ancestral Shrine is famous for its artwork and decorations. As time goes by, this well-preserved complex now becomes a museum of Chinese handicrafts. To taste of the traditional architecture style of Qing Dynasty in Guangzhou, just step into the Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family.