Rucheng County is a multi-ethnic county with a population of more than 360,000 and more than 280 surnames. It has more than 700 ancient ancestral temples with Ming and Qing style with a large scale, beautiful structure, wide function, long history and profound connotation, which has high research, ornamental and tourism value. Eight of them have been listed as provincial and municipal cultural protection units. Yao Shouzhuo, CPPCC National Committee Member and Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Hunan Province, was pleased to inscribe "Town of Ancient Temples".

As many as 700 ancient ancestral temples in Rucheng have their own characteristics in environmental aesthetics, which are mainly embodied in the guidance of the traditional environmental aesthetics thought of "harmony between man and nature", adapting measures to local conditions, utilizing and improving the environment, and in the use of a variety of different means of expression according to the actual topographic space and actual needs to achieve harmony between the environment and nature and motivate future generations.

Rucheng Ancient Temple is of high value. As the heritage of history, it is the witness, record, concentration and specimen of history. As the heritage of architecture, it has profound cultural value in itself, its attachment, its contents and its implications, which is an indispensable resource for the study of ancient culture, ancient architecture, ancient folklore, ancient patriarchal clan and ancient migration. As a cultural heritage, the poetry couplets, stele sculptures, tablets and halls complement each other with genealogy and family discipline to build a grand view garden of ancestral temple culture.

Jinshan Ye's Family Temple, Lu's Family Temple, Jinjiang Zhu's Family Temple, Guangan Li's Ancestral Temple, Taibaodi in Waisha Village, Embroidery Workshop in Yidao Village (including Fan's Family Temple, Zhongcheng Ancestral Hall) and other ancient buildings are exquisite in craftsmanship, magnificent in style, complete in preservation and early in construction, which represent the essence of Rucheng ancient ancestral temple culture with high historical, cultural and scientific values.

As the main function of ancestral temples is to worship ancestors and organize large-scale activities, it is the leading building of the whole village. Among the people, the quality of ancestral temples affects the development of the whole village. Ancient ancestral temples, therefore, occupy a leading position in environmental aesthetics in terms of appearance, site selection, indoor layout, seat orientation, gate, environmental buildings behind and before the door, roads, water and wood, so as to ensure that ancestral temples play a leading role in the village building. It fully embodies the design concept of the ancients' individual service collective, partial service integral, overall and natural harmony, and harmonious promotion of development.

Waisha Village is located on the Leishui River east of Rucheng County, about 4 kilometers away from the county, and the S324 line runs across the village. Up to now, there are more than 100 large-scale and well-preserved ancient dwellings of Ming and Qing Dynasties, including ancient ancestral halls, temples, academies, bridges, tombs, sculptures, stone carvings, plaques and other rich historical and cultural relics. There were so many outstanding people in ancient times, including Zhu Ying, who was the Grand Tutor to Crownprince in the Ming Dynasty and the Left Capital Censor of the Court of Censors, Zhu Shoufu, who was the Ministry of Justice, and Zhu Bifeng, who was the Ministry of Household Inspection; Zhu Chunrong, the first Director of Rucheng Women's Federation in contemporary China, Founding Admiral Zhu Liangcai and other historical celebrities.

Most of the villagers here are descendants of Zhu Ying, the Grand Tutor to Crownprince in the Ming Dynasty. Since the migration of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu's family has been living and multiplying here, gradually forming a settlement family village dominated by Zhu's blood relationship.

More than 100 ancient dwellings in the village are centered on Zhu's ancestral temples. According to the traditional Chinese geomantic pattern of "five positions and four gods", they are arranged neatly around Zhu's ancestral temples and the main lanes. The houses are all three-bay wide in shape with green brick firewalls; the volume is 11 meters wide and 8.9 meters deep; the drainage ditches are made of bluestone slabs and river pebbles, and the direction and layout are consistent according to the old custom of "the front building should not be higher than the back building, and the highest should not exceed the ancestral temple". From the overall layout, roadways and ditches constitute the basic framework of the village.

Public buildings such as ancestral temples have become the most important public activity center and spiritual center in villages. Wells, entrance of gates and squares are the activity space for people's daily communication. Temples and lintel stones are the superficial material carriers of culture. There are 1 ancient hall, 3 ancient temples, 1 ancient academy, more than 100 ancient houses, 1 ancient bridge, 1 ancient tomb, 10 ancient sculptures (referring to independent stone horses, Buddha statues, excluding stone carvings, brick carvings and wood carvings attached to buildings), about 10 ancient stone carvings and 4 ancient tablets.