Sanmentang is located in Tianzhu County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, in the upper reaches of the Qingshui River. More than 200 years ago, it was a Dong village with a very developed wood merchant culture.
During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Sanmentang obtained the official license for timber trade. Since then, Sanmentang has transformed from a farming village to a timber trade port. Many merchants came to Sanmentang to trade and live, and rafts gathered at the Sanmentang wharf to trade, hence the name "Dong Village with Rafts". The Qingshui River is the second largest river in Guizhou Province. It originates in Duyun City, Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, flows through 7 towns in Tianzhu County, and finally flows out of the province at Wengdong Town, Tianzhu County. The Qingshui River flows through many places and breeds many villages, and Sanmentang is a shining pearl among them. In the Sanmentang Scenic Area, what you can't miss is the unique ancestral hall culture here. Wang's Ancestral Hall, also known as Taiyuan Hall. 500 years ago, the ancestors of the Wang family of Sanmentang moved here from Taiyuan Prefecture, Shanxi Province. In order to remind their descendants not to forget where they came from, they named the ancestral hall Taiyuan Hall. The ancestral hall is a brick-and-wood structure with a floor area of about 300 square meters, 11 meters high and 12 meters wide.