The ancient villages in Wannan refer to the ancient villages in the mountainous area south of the Yangtze River in Anhui Province, represented by Xidi and Hongcun. It is a historical and traditional village with a unique regional cultural background and strong Huizhou cultural characteristics. The mountainous area of ??southern Anhui has a long history and profound cultural heritage, and has preserved a large number of traditional buildings and villages with similar shapes and distinctive features.
Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui
Chinese name: Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui - Xidi, Hongcun
English name: Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui-XidiandHongcun
Approval time: December 1999
Heritage type: Cultural heritage
Heritage selection criteria: Xidi and Hongcun are based on cultural heritage selection criteria C(III)(IV)(V) It is included in the World Heritage List.
Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui - Overview
Village Location Map
At the 24th UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 1999, Yixian County, Anhui Province The two ancient dwellings in Xidi and Hongcun have been included in the World Cultural Heritage List for their well-preserved traditional features. This is the second time that the natural and cultural landscapes in the Huangshan Scenic Area have been included in the World Cultural Heritage List, and it is also the second time in China after Beijing. It is a city with more than two world heritage sites at the same time, and it is also the first time in the world that residential buildings have been included in the world heritage list. Xidi and Hongcun ancient dwellings are located in the Huangshan Scenic Area in Yi County, Anhui Province, eastern China. Xidi and Hongcun are the two most representative ancient villages in southern Anhui. They are famous for their idyllic pastoral scenery, well-preserved village form, exquisite Hui-style dwellings and rich historical and cultural connotations.
Yi County in the mountainous area of ??southern Anhui is a small county with a population of only about 100,000, where Xidi and Hongcun are located. Li Bai, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, once praised: "The small Taoyuan of Yixian County is a hundred miles of haze. The land has many beautiful plants and trees, and the people still wear ancient clothes." This expresses the unique artistic conception of rural areas in southern Anhui: the beautiful scenery and beautiful scenery, and the ancient culture brewing honest and calm folk customs Favor.
Xidi and Hongcun ancient residential villages are located in the Huangshan Scenic Area in Yixian County, Anhui Province, eastern China. Xidi and Hongcun are the two most representative ancient villages in southern Anhui. They are typical representatives of southern Anhui regional culture and the carrier of Huizhou culture, a typical representative of the culture of late feudal society in China. It embodies the characteristics of Huizhou folk houses with exquisite craftsmanship. The village shape is well preserved and the scenery is beautiful. The village has respected Confucianism and education since ancient times, and has a prosperous literary style, which embodies the Huizhou cultural phenomenon that reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as the feudal ethical culture of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, the patriarchal culture of living together, the Feng Shui culture in village construction, and the Jia The Huizhou merchant culture, which favors Confucianism, has profound historical and cultural connotations.
Xidi is 8 kilometers away from the county seat of Yixian County. It was first built during the Huangyou period of the Northern Song Dynasty (1049-1054 AD) and has a history of nearly a thousand years. The entire village is in the shape of a boat, with 122 complete ancient residences preserved. It currently has more than 300 households and a population of more than 1,000 people. It is known as "the epitome of Chinese traditional culture" and "the Museum of Chinese Ming and Qing Folk Residences".
Xidi is surrounded by mountains. Two streams pass through the village from the north and east and converge at Huiyuan Bridge in the south of the village. The village uses one longitudinal street and two roads along the stream as its main skeleton, forming a village street system that is mainly east-oriented and extends north-south. All streets and lanes are paved with Yixian bluestone. Most of the ancient buildings are wooden structures and brick walls. There are rich wood carvings, stone carvings and brick carvings. The design and layout of the lanes and buildings are coordinated. The village space is flexible and the architectural colors are simple and elegant, which is a typical example of Chinese Huizhou architectural art.
Hongcun is located 10 kilometers northeast of Yixian County. It was founded in the first year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1131 AD). The village covers an area of ??about 19 hectares and has ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911 AD). Building 137, due to its high terrain, is often shrouded in clouds and fog, and is known as "the countryside in Chinese paintings".
The ancient buildings in Hongcun are all with whitewashed walls and blue tiles, arranged in regular rows. Chengzhitang is the grandest and most exquisite masterpiece among them, and is known as the "Folk Forbidden City". It can be called an exhibition hall of Huizhou woodcarving craftsmanship. Various woodcarvings are rich in layers, complex and vivid. After more than a hundred years, they are still magnificent.
Hongcun is a "cow-shaped village". Viewed from a height, the entire village looks like a green cow lying on the bank of a stream in front of a mountain. The half-moon-shaped pond in the village is called the "cow stomach", and a stream more than 400 meters long is coiled in the "cow belly", which is called the "cow intestine". Four wooden bridges are erected over the stream in the west of the village. They serve as "cow's feet". This unique design of the village water system not only provides convenience for villagers' production, domestic water and fire-fighting water, but also regulates the temperature and environment. The site selection, layout and architectural form of the villages in Xidi and Hongcun are all guided by the Feng Shui theory of Zhouyi, embodying the traditional Chinese philosophy of the unity of man and nature and the yearning for and respect for nature. Those elegant residential buildings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are closely integrated with nature, creating a living environment that is both scientific and interesting, which is the essence of traditional Chinese residential buildings. The unique water systems in Xidi and Hongcun are examples of water conservancy projects that combine practicality and aesthetics. Especially the cow-shaped water system in Hongcun deeply embodies the outstanding wisdom of mankind in utilizing nature and transforming it.
Ancient villages in southern Anhui - architectural value
Ancient villages in southern Anhui are not only cleverly integrated with the topography, landforms and mountains and rivers, but also coupled with the strong economic strength of Huizhou merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to support their hometown, Culture and education have become increasingly prosperous. After returning home, they conceived and built residences with an elegant, literary, noble and detached mentality, making the cultural environment of the ancient village richer and the village landscape more prominent. The biggest difference between ancient villages in southern Anhui and other village forms is that the construction and development of ancient villages in southern Anhui have to a considerable extent separated from dependence on agriculture. The consciousness, lifestyle and taste of the residents of the ancient villages greatly surpassed the ideology of farmers and the general citizen class, but retained and pursued the same as the literati and official classes, so they have a strong cultural flavor. On the basis of the basic stereotypes, the ancient village houses in Wannan adopt different decorative techniques, build small courtyards, dig pools, install leaky windows, skillfully set up bonsais, carve beams and painted pillars, and inscribe orchid plaques to create an elegant living environment, all of which reflect the extreme needs of local residents. High cultural quality and artistic accomplishment. The site selection and construction of the ancient villages in Wannan follow the Zhouyi Feng Shui theory with a history of more than 2,000 years, which emphasizes the ideal state of the unity of nature and man and full respect for the natural environment. It pays attention to the dual needs of material and spiritual, has a scientific foundation and high aesthetic concept. The architectural features of the ancient villages in southern Anhui - Huizhou folk houses were developed with the prosperity of Huizhou merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They can best reflect the exquisiteness of their conception and superb craftsmanship in a limited building space. They are indeed unique. architectural form. Later, the Huizhou merchants gradually declined, but the architectural features of this kind of Huizhou folk houses have been preserved in the ancient folk houses and villages, so they have important historical and architectural value.