This impressive sign was once hung above the entrance to a Chinese ancestral hall. It is made from planks of Elmwood covered in layers of thick black tree lacquer for protection from the elements. The characters read, from right to left, “north, hall, spring, forever”. Ancestral halls were usually found in villages in which many families bore the same surname, such as “Chen” or “Li”. The ancestral hall looked like a house but it was only used during religious ceremonies and holidays. Members of the clan would gather periodically to pay respects. It appears to be the early 20th Century or earlier. From Shanxi Province.