The Panyu shrine comprises about 160 wooden components intricately assembled using mortise and tenon joints. It has a base area of about 26 square meters and a volume of 110 cubic meters.
Each side of the door frame at the main entrance of the shrine bears an inscription. One means “The first year of the Xuantong reign (the Year of Jiyou)” and the other means “Respectfully presented by Dong Zhong Xi Long Society”. The back of the door frame bears an inscription meaning, “Manufactured by He Bingji”. These inscriptions indicate that the shrine was made in the first year of the Xuantong reign, i.e. the Year of Jiyou (1909), funded by Dong Zhong Xi Long Society of Shilou Town, and built by He Bingji. Research has revealed that the shrine originated from the renowned folk ceremony, “The Parade of King Hung Shing” which was held during both Qing dynasty and the Republican period by the eighteen villages of Gangwei Community in Panyu, Guangzhou. This grand festival, celebrating the birthday of Hung Shing, has been practised for over two hundred years from the Qianlong reign of Qing dynasty to the year 1950 and was an important annual event among the local villages. On the eve of the birthday of Hung Shing, the shrine would be set up inside the ancestral hall to house “King Hung Shing” for villagers to worship and make offerings to it during the festive period. After the celebration, the shrine would be dismantled and its parts placed in tailor-made cedar-wood boxes to be kept in the ancestral hall for the next celebration.