Red brick is the main color of traditional houses in southern Fujian. In Minnan, CuO means house. From the outside, the ancient village of Daimei is not large. There is a river that surrounds the whole village like a moat. The water is ten to twenty meters wide. Looking down from a height, the whole ancient village seems to be floating on the river, making Daimei a veritable "Zhouzhuang in South Fujian".
Daimei Ancient Village was built in the middle of Ming Dynasty. The villagers of Daimei Ancient Village, which has a history and culture of more than 560 years, are descendants of Chen Chun, a philosopher in the Southern Song Dynasty. As an important successor and interpreter of Zhu Neo-Confucianism, Chen Chun further developed Zhu's thought. In the United States, the number of people after Chen Chun has been strictly observing the ancestral teachings of "harmony" for a hundred years, and it is forbidden to change the architectural pattern. No matter rich or poor, the homestead of each family is the same size, and the whole village looks very harmonious towards unity.
Among them, 49 ancient buildings in Ming and Qing dynasties all face north, and the architectural system is "Jiugong Building", that is, 9 ancient buildings with dovetail ridges, the front row is built horizontally, and the back row is built backwards in the front row in turn. There are also three rows of saddle ridges "protection" arranged vertically next to the ancient buildings. Such a high-standard building could only be built by families with prominent bureaucratic backgrounds in ancient times. It can be seen that the previous Daimei family was also rich and how brilliant it was.
The buildings built in the back face south, the houses are exactly the same size, and the buildings are symmetrically arranged on the central axis. The roofs are all hard mountain-shaped curved dovetail ridges, red tile roofs and masonry walls, and the decoration technology is extremely exquisite. The application of wood carving, brick carving and clay sculpture in beams, arches, window grilles and other components is also amazing.
Walking into the quiet and peaceful ancient village, you don't need tickets, and few people bother to take pictures. Most of the ancient buildings are typical Minnan quadrangles (with two entrances and four bays). This kind of house is a wooden frame structure, and bamboo woven walls are plastered with ashes. Experts say this kind of building is good for earthquake prevention. Therefore, after hundreds of years and repeated earthquakes, beautiful ancient buildings still stand, which is really a miracle in the history of Minnan architecture.
There is a side door beside the neat antique house, which leads from the village head to the village end. You can run from one house to another on rainy days without getting wet. The middle of each acre is high, forming a good drainage system. Therefore, although it was built by water, the village has never been flooded, which makes people feel that the ancestors of ancient villages are really wise.
Jiafengtang was renovated and decorated by Chen Zucuo, the "Three Heroes". With the theme of "inheriting family traditions and family precepts, enjoying family reputation", Family Style Pavilion has eight exhibition rooms, including happiness of family and people, good parenting, unity and friendship, adequate food and clothing, respect for the elderly and love for the young, self-cultivation, family reputation, family and everything. This is the humanistic background behind the ancient buildings.
There is a levee more than ten meters wide in front of each row of Gu Lou, where ordinary farming and large-scale activities are held. Among them, the front row of the ancient village official hall faces Bijia Mountain, which is really good feng shui, and there are empty flagpoles in front of the dike. It is said that there used to be many flagpoles here, which were left over by their ancestors and a symbol of their fame and glory.
There are also ancestral halls and Wangsan Palace Temple in the village. An ancient banyan tree crossing the river has a history of more than 300 years and is still lush and leafy. During the flood, because "one bridge flies north and south", it became a "life-saving tree" in the mouth of the villagers.
In addition to the inland river around the village, there is also a Nanxi pier leading to the outside world. Nanxi Wharf, which connects Xiamen and Taiwan Province Province, was once an important ancient port in southern Fujian. Daimei Village people used the convenience of the waterway in front of their homes to transport agricultural products and groceries to Xiamen and Taiwan Province Province for commodity trade, which became an important part of Zhangzhou Maritime Silk Road culture.
Perhaps you have seen many "sameness" ancient villages, but is the original taste of Dai-mei ancient villages set off by mountains very attractive?
Daimei Village is not far from Xiamen, less than100km, less than an hour's drive, and two kilometers away from zhangzhou port, which is very convenient.