Chen Clan Ancestral Hall

This guide to the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall in Guangzhou follows the money that poured in from seventy-two counties and overseas Chen families starting in 1888, after two returned emigrants, Chen Ruinan and Chen Zhaonan, pitched something closer to crowdfunding than charity. It traces six years of donations toward a shared hall meant to give any young Chen man a bed, a desk, and a shot at the imperial exams, and the craftsmen, potters, woodcarvers, and plasterers who were paid in cash by families who would never see the finished building.