The nearly 100-year-old precious wooden house in Ward 1, Vinh Chau town (Soc Trang province) of the Lai family was built in Chinese architecture.
Mr. Lai Van Tia (4th generation descendant) is currently the person taking care of the ancestral altar here. He said that the house was built in 1925 and completed in 1926. In 2014, descendants contributed funds to renovate it but kept the original state. Currently, the two side rooms in the house are still used by generations of descendants.
The house is nearly 20 meters wide, with 36 pillars made of rosewood, 4 sets of planks made of red wood and 4 kerosene lamps. Inside the house there are also bronze incense burners, antique vases and clocks that are as old as the house.
On both sides of the house are ancestral altars and two large panels recording the history of the Lai family. The front wall is decorated with vivid murals of birds from phoenixes, peacocks, pheasants, cranes to mandarin ducks...
In particular, there are also images recreating occupations such as rice farming, salt making, fishing, onion and garlic growing, longan growing... that many generations of descendants of the Lai family in Vinh Chau have made a living from.
"These paintings have been painted for decades. They are also a reminder of my grandparents' profession, which I myself have followed to this day. I currently own over 1 hectare of land growing longan and longan, with a very good income," Mr. Tia shared.
Currently, the Lai family wooden house has become a tourist destination for many tourists inside and outside Soc Trang province.
