Chen Mingda was born in Changsha and his hometown is Qiyang, Hunan. 1925, Chen Mingda's family moved from Changsha to Beijing. After learning to move to Changsha, Chen Mingda returned to his hometown in Qiyang, which had been away for a long time. When the ancestral temple was repaired to worship the ancestors, Chen Mingda found that the archways of the ancestral temple had been demolished and piled on the wall. Bucket arch is a unique structure of ancient buildings in China, which has been used for more than 2,000 years. In the Qing Dynasty, the structural function of the bucket arch degenerated and it was only used for decoration. "Such an example can be met but not sought," Yin Lixin recalled. Chen Mingda misses his hometown. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he briefly returned to his hometown, intending to rebuild the burnt-out Chen Ancestral Hall. However, local people surnamed Chen discussed that building a new university is more meaningful than building a private ancestral temple. To this end, Chen Mingda spent all his life learning to complete the design and construction drawings of the school in a short time, and even compiled a detailed project budget. Later, the school was built, but due to the change of the situation, it failed to become a university, and the building complex was changed into a middle school.

Today's Qiyang No.2 Middle School is the school designed and founded by Chen Mingda. The auditorium of Qiyang No.2 Middle School was originally the Chenjia Temple, and the design took a lot of effort by Chen Mingda. Chen Mingda mentioned before his death that the school designed for Qiyang at that time was formerly Chenjiaci. There is no ancestral temple near the old house, only Qiyang No.2 Middle School (formerly Zhonghua Middle School) located in Longshan Street, Qiyang City.

The Chen family in Qiyang has been deeply influenced by Chen since the Qing Dynasty. 1702- 175 1 year) since he joined the cabinet, although he was repeatedly rejected because of the suspicion of Han Chinese officials by the powerful people in the Manchu dynasty, his descendants have been unwilling to sink into the world for more than 200 years, and groups of figures such as Chen, Chen Bingshu, Chen Pingjie and Chen Mingda have emerged one after another, and they have been in their respective industries. In terms of cultural relics, except Wenchang Tower, which is still a local scenic spot in Qiyang, there are still the old house and ancestral grave of the Chen family in Outangchong, and the library of Qiyang No.2 Middle School, which are not listed as cultural relics protection units.

The Wenchang Pagoda in Qiyang is a religious building with more decoration than practicality today, but it directly served the educational cause in the era of construction. Today, it has become one of the famous pagodas in China. Rebuilding Wenchang Tower, written by Shou, has been handed down from generation to generation, becoming a precious historical material to record the tradition of folk craftsmen and a rare document to reflect the traditional cultural concept of "Confucianism, tolerance and interpretation" of literati. In addition to the existing engraving of Chen Wensu's suicide note, the remains of the original monument are still scattered in the bushes near Wenchang Tower.

It's easy to visit the tomb in the lotus pond, but the old residence of Chen, which is a stone's throw away, is incredibly simple: there are many big houses with carved beams and painted buildings and winding paths all over China, and the Prime Minister's Office with adobe walls as the main structure seems to take this as an isolated case. It is far from luxury, but in simplicity and poverty, it is handled with details such as window lattice, beam frame and column base, which inadvertently shows the lofty cultural taste of farmers. According to records, Chen Dashou donated 1520 yuan to rebuild the Wenchang Tower in Qiyang, and only invested in 320 yuan to repair his old house.

As for the library of Qiyang No.2 Middle School today, it is the physical evidence that the Chen family transformed the ancestral temple into a public educational institution. Chen Da is officially listed as an earthen house, and his descendants are just poetry books; Sponsor township public welfare, and spare no expense to push the cultivated books to towns and villages. With this family style, his descendants, such as Chen Bingshu and Chen Mingda, sought the development of public welfare education with the loss of private property when the country was in great waste, and they had the humanistic spirit of "old people and old people, young people and young people". Chen Mingda once mentioned the warning of the rise and fall of the Chen family to future generations: "Witch doctors and musicians can make a living for them", "They only want to be practical when they die, and they must never live by the shadow of their ancestors". This spirit can be described as an eternal heirloom, and it can also be regarded as one of the cultural genes that form Qiyang's heroic, simple, self-reliant and re-educated folk customs. Therefore, it is no accident that Chen Mingda embarked on the road of studying ancient buildings.