Objective/Meaning  In response to the policy requirement of “strengthening the standardized management of ancestral halls” put forward in the 2025 No. 1 Central Document, this study aimed to systematically elucidate the contemporary value of ancestral halls in improving the rural governance system and explore the practical pathways for transforming them into the effective governance carriers.

Methods/Procedures  Based on policy texts and literature analysis, the internal logic of standardized management of ancestral halls was explained. By combining the practical cases, the multiple challenges faced in terms of organizational foundations, cultural inheritance, and the management of folk beliefs were systematically analyzed. Then, the practical pathways were constructed from the dimensions of Party building guidance, cultural activation, and science popularization initiatives.

Results/ Conclusions  The standardized management of ancestral halls was helpful to integrate the rural governance resources, continue the cultural memory, and guide the folk activities. However, it faced the challenges such as the weakening function of clan organizations, cultural decline, and management difficulties. It was essential to promote the collaborative governance through the embedded guidance of Party building, reshape the cultural functions through the living inheritance, and purify the belief spaces through science popularization, so as to promote the transformation of ancestral halls into rural public platforms that integrated tradition and modernity, achieving their creative conversion from clan symbols to governance carriers.