The center of the ancient villages in southern Anhui is one of the six counties of the original Huizhou Prefecture (Shexian, Yixian, Xiuning, Qimen, Jixi, and Wuyuan). Among them, Yixian has the most preserved ancient villages to this day. , one of the most complete counties.
Yixian County
Yixian County is located at the southwest foot of Huangshan Mountain, the "No. 1 Wonderful Mountain in China", and is named after Yishan Mountain (the ancient name of Huangshan Mountain). The continuous peaks in the territory are connected with Huangshan Mountain, which historically hindered the communication between Guyi and the outside world, creating an ecological environment like a "paradise" in Yixian County. The famous ancient Chinese writer Tao Yuanming was inspired by the specific environment and customs of this area and wrote the immortal masterpiece "The Peach Blossom Spring". As a result, Yixian County has been known as "the home of the Peach Blossom Spring" since ancient times. Due to the traffic congestion in history, Yixian County has rarely suffered from war disasters since ancient times. Huizhou merchants flourished in the 16th century, leaving more than 4,000 ancient houses with exquisite architecture and bright styles. They are praised by experts and scholars at home and abroad as "Oriental". "The epitome of civilization" and "the artistic treasure house of ancient oriental architecture".
Yixian County is dotted with ancient dwellings, including ancient dwellings, ancient ancestral halls, ancient bridges, ancient sculptures (brick, wood, stone), ancient cultural sites and other places of interest, and there are still some well-protected ones. There are 3,600 ancient residences, the largest in southern Anhui, and it is known as the "Ming and Qing Residential Museum". Among them, Xidi and Hongcun were included in the "World Cultural Heritage" list by UNESCO in November 2000. They are tourist destinations that Chinese and foreign tourists yearn for.
Yixian County is also known as the "Movie City". Famous films such as "Little Flower", "Ju Dou" and "Feng Yue" were all shot here. Many scenes in the 2001 Oscar-winning blockbuster "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" were mostly shot here.
Xidi
Xidi Village is an ancient village where religious kinship is the link and the main people surnamed Hu live together. According to the Xidi Genealogy of the Hu Family, the ancestor of the Hu family in Xidi was the son of Li Ye, Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty. During the Huangyu period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Hu Shiliang, the ancestor of the Hu family, saw the beautiful mountains and rivers here and the beautiful scenery, so he brought a geomancer (Feng Shui master) from his hometown of Wuyuan to make a detailed calculation of the mountains and rivers here. The entire village is built in the shape of a boat, with the meaning of "borrowing water to travel westward, obtaining divine help, obtaining true scriptures, and achieving good fortune".
Because Xidi is located in a mountainous area, it has been less affected by wars in history and has not suffered major economic impacts, allowing the original form of this ancient village to be well preserved. There are 124 ancient Ming and Qing Dynasty houses and 3 ancestral halls in the village. The roads and water systems have been maintained in their original state. The main street, Henglu Street, more than 40 lanes, lanes and unique bluestone roads have been preserved, making Xidi known as A model among Huizhou ancient villages.
Hu Wenguang Archway is commonly known as Xidi Archway. Built in the sixth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1578 AD), it has a history of more than 400 years. The archway is 12.3 meters high and 9.95 meters wide. It is a three-bay, four-column, five-story single imitation wood-carved archway. The entire archway is made of local "Yixian Qing" marble. The entire archway is decorated with typical reliefs and sculptures with Huizhou characteristics. Various patterns are decorated with openwork, round carving and other techniques, and each pattern contains a very profound meaning. The Hu Wenguang Archway is solemn and elegant in shape and has outstanding stone carving skills. It can be called the representative work of the Huizhou Stone Archway in the Ming Dynasty.
Huizhou District
With the essence of mountains and rivers and the grand view of heaven and earth, Huizhou in ancient times was famous for its prosperous literary style and numerous talents. Especially during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Huizhou merchants rose , and further promoted the development of regional culture. "Written by Lianke in three halls, four Hanlins in ten miles", "father and son ministers", "brothers prime ministers", "comatriots Hanlin" have been praised from generation to generation, Xin'an calligraphy and painting, Xin'an medicine, Huizhou seal cutting, Huizhou prints, Huizhou architecture and Hui opera , Huizhou's Four Treasures of the Study, etc., are all unique and have a long history, forming the unique style and tradition of Huizhou culture, and also giving rise to cultural monuments as bright as stars. To this day, the word "Hui" is still the most distinctive feature and the most unique symbol of Anhui. "Huixue" has become one of China's three major regional cultures with world influence, competing with Tibetan studies and Dunhuang studies.
As the most developed place of ancient Huizhou culture, Huizhou District enjoys the reputation of “elegant landscapes and pastoral gardens, and corridors of ancient Huizhou buildings”. Due to the particularity of history, economy, and natural conditions, Huizhou's remaining ancient buildings can be regarded as outstanding representatives of southern Anhui and even the whole country, regardless of their age, variety, quantity, and high taste. There are more than 300 ancient Hui-style buildings preserved in the district from the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Shangzhuang Town
Shangzhuang Town is located at the eastern foot of Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province. It is known as "Little Shanghai" and "Hometown of Culture".
Shangzhuang Town is listed as a key cultural protection area due to its rich cultural landscape. Admirers flock to it and it has become a famous cultural town for tourism. There are Hu Shi’s former residence and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom murals, which are key cultural relics protection units in Anhui Province, as well as Kuixing Pavilion, Hu Kaiwen’s former residence and memorial hall, Wang Yutai’s former residence, Hu Shi’s cultural relics collection hall, the Tomb of the Emperor, etc., which are county protected units, which deeply reflect the unique and profound cultural heritage of Shangzhuang Town. .
Shangzhuang Ancient Town has been home to numerous celebrities throughout the ages, including the famous scholar Hu Shi, the founder of Huizhou Mo Hu Kaiwen, and the famous modern poet Wang Jingzhi.
Hu Shi’s former residence is located in the southwest of Shangzhuang Village, Jixi River and was built in 1897. This is a Huizhou-style building with rigorous structure, exquisiteness and elegance. It was built by Shao Zhi, Hu Shi's second brother. It has three bays, forward and backward, and has 13 rooms in total. It has a Shiku gate tower, drama characters, and lifelike brick carvings. The wood carvings inside the house are smooth and exquisite, with a single color of soilless orchids as the theme, with flat-bottomed reliefs that read, "Orchid is the king, and its fragrance is not among the others." "I came from the mountains with orchids and grass" is a poem titled "Hope" written by Hu Shi in his later years. It has now become the lyrics of Taiwan's popular song "Orchid and Grass", which expresses Mr. Hu Shi's unforgettable native feelings.
Kixing Pavilion is located in "Qipan Village", Shangzhuang Town. The so-called "Chessboard Village" is Shijia Village in Shangzhuang. The residents surnamed Shi in the village are all descendants of Shi Shouxin, the founding hero of the Northern Song Dynasty. The roads in the village are divided into three longitudes and five latitudes, which are well-proportioned, with clear longitude and latitude, and connected roads. The layout of the entire village is like a chessboard, which is called "the village on the chessboard". It is said that it was designed to commemorate the game between ancestor Shi Shouxin and Emperor Taizu. The village has both light and dark sewers, five-foot-wide stone roads, upper and lower gates to prevent thieves, and horse-head walls, all of which are typical Huizhou architectural styles. Wangshan also has thousand-year-old pines and ancient wells at the foot of the mountain. Kuixing Pavilion and Nanshan Bridge at the entrance of the village were built in the early Qing Dynasty. They are as famous as Hu Shi's former residence in Shangzhuang and Hu's ancestral hall in Longchuan. They are both one of the "Ten Scenic Spots of Jixi".
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom murals are located in the Cao family’s ancestral hall (Jiusitang) in Wangchuan, Jixi. This group of murals has seven walls, including sieges, marches, fairy tales, folk songs, Inscriptions etc. This group of murals not only has high artistic value, but is also an extremely precious and reliable source of information for studying the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Hu Kaiwen’s former residence is located on the east edge of Shangzhuang Village. It is the first Chinese-Western house built with cement and steel materials in Jixi. Its structure and decoration are extremely harmonious. At that time, the highway had not yet been opened, and it was not easy to transport cement and steel bars from Shanghai to the deep mountainous areas by manual and animal power. The former residence has three bays. The Hu Kaiwen Memorial Hall was founded by the 82-year-old Hu Engao, the seventh grandson of Hu Kaiwen. The six large cursive characters of "Hu Kaiwen Memorial Hall" were signed by Comrade Hu Jintao on his behalf and personally signed by Shen Peng, Chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers Association. The collection is extremely rich, including famous calligraphy created by Hu Kaiwen: such as Lilongzhu, Ancient Yumi, Qianqiuguang, Dragon and Phoenix Dance, Sixty-Four Scenes of Yuyuan Garden, Huangshan Thirty-Six Peaks Garden, Ancient Lake Scenery Poetry Garden, Cotton Garden , the Ten Great Immortals, the Twelve Zodiac Poetry Gardens, the "Earth Ink" that won the gold medal of the Panama International Treasures Association, and the copied photos of certificates and medals, etc. In addition, a rare and unique complete collection of "Ink Records" (that is, the imperial ink manuals of the four masters of ink-making in the Qing Dynasty), a rare and unique complete collection, is included in the library, "Hui Ink Chronicles", "Huizhou Chronicles" and county annals Relevant materials from the "Ming Jing Genealogy of the Hu Family" are also copied and displayed.