One of the characteristics of Huizhou folk houses is the high walls and deep courtyards. On the one hand, it is to protect against thieves, and on the other hand, it is the need for psychological security for migratory families who have suffered from displacement. Another characteristic of Huizhou folk houses is the inward courtyard formed with a deep patio as the center, surrounded by high walls. There are almost no tiles visible from the outside. Only the narrow patio is used for lighting and ventilation to communicate with the outside world. This basic form with the patio as the center and enclosed by high walls is the focus of people's attention. On rainy days, the rainwater flowing from the roofs on all sides flows into the patio, which is commonly known as "the four waters return to the hall". It also vividly reflects the mentality of Huizhou merchants that "the rich water does not flow out of the fields", which is similar to Shanxi folk houses. The folk houses in Wannan are famous for preserving a large number of ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Xin'an is a cultural town with many officials and merchants in history. In She County alone, there are hundreds of non-commissioned officers above the rank of civil servant. Huizhou merchants spread throughout southern Anhui. "Among the wealthy families, Xin'an is the first in Jiangnan." Their huge wealth has created this exquisite ancient residential museum in southern Anhui. The ancient buildings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties that exist in Huizhou today are mainly concentrated in Yi County, She County, Jixi and Xiuning. There are more than ten ancient villages in Yi County today, the important ones such as Xidi, Hongcun, Bishan, Pingshan, etc. There are more ancient buildings in Yicheng. Hundreds of valuable ancient buildings are preserved throughout the county. There are 122 buildings in Xidi alone. There are 365 ancient buildings in Shexian County, more than 100 valuable ones, and 27 ancient ancestral halls, concentrated in Xiongcun, Chengkan, Qiankou, Tangyue, Shendu and other villages. There are more than 100 ancient buildings in Jixi today, concentrated in Homtou, Hangkou, Fengcun, Shangzhuang and other places. Ancient villages generally consist of archways, houses, ancestral halls, water mouths, road pavilions, workshops, etc. Some villages are very large, such as Chengkan, which has 99 streets and lanes. Strangers often get lost after entering. Many villages have a well-organized layout, and the water system in Hongcun is an example. Hongcun built a dam near the mountain at the head of the village. The water canals in the village enter each household from both sides of the street and merge into the Yuetang in the middle of the village. Then it is diverted to households and flows into Nanhu Lake. Each household has large and small channels for washing and drinking water. The layout of residential buildings is generally a three-heyuan or four-heyyuan with a patio as the center and two floors. Medium and large-sized houses are composed of multiple courtyards, and the buildings are all painted with white walls and black tiles. Many of the buildings of wealthy families in the old days were large in scale and decorated with three Huizhou carvings, with exquisite and well-proportioned layouts. Pieces of ancient buildings in southern Anhui are embedded in the vast famous mountains and beautiful waters of Huangshan Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, and Xin'an River. They are a perfect match between heaven and earth, just like a world-class park that needs no decoration. The folk houses in Wannan are buildings with more than two floors, with a small patio enclosed in the middle, and the hall is located on the north side of the patio. There are no walls, doors or windows between the hall and the patio, so it is an open space. On the north side of the hall, that is, at the rear, there is a wooden Taishi wall. On both sides of the Taishi wall are doors without door leaves. Furniture such as the long table and the Eight Immortals table are placed in front of the Taishi wall. On the east and west sides of the hall, there are several sets of armchairs and coffee tables respectively. People often place some utensils on them as decorations. After these Huizhou merchants became rich, they built a large-scale construction project and expanded the manor in order to honor their ancestors and become prominent. Influenced by Confucianism, after they built wealthy houses, they combined Confucianism and businessmen, government and businessmen for development, established schools, respected Confucianism, and followed the path of learning and excellence to become scholars. Therefore, when many Huizhou merchants built their houses, they built buildings and expanded gardens according to the grades prescribed by the government. This is the reason for the formation of Huizhou ancient residential buildings. They took advantage of the environment of Huizhou's mountainous areas, where "high and low are facing away from each other, and cloudy and sunny are different." Guided by the five elements of Yin and Yang, they tried every means to select Feng Shui treasures and sites to build villages, hoping for blessings from God, abundant food and clothing, and prosperous descendants. In ancient Huizhou, almost every village had a certain basis for Feng Shui. It may be based on the mountains, straddling the throats of mountain foothills, mountain docks, and mountain passes; or it may be located near the water, hugging the meanders of rivers, relying on ferries, or at the heart of branch rivers. Some are horn-shaped; such as Wuyuan Xikeng; some are bow-shaped, such as Wuyuan Taibaisi; some are band-shaped, such as Wuyuan Gaosha; some are zigzag-shaped, such as Wuyuan Plum Grove; some are wavy. Some are in the shape of clouds, such as Xidi in Yixian County; some are in the shape of clouds, such as Qiankou in Shexian County; some are in the shape of a dragon, such as in Jiangcun, Shexian County; there are also half-moon, T-shaped, herringbone, mouth-shaped, and square-yin types. , arc type, straight type, etc. They come in different shapes and styles. In the ancient residential buildings in Huizhou, the strict Confucian hierarchy and the feudal moral values ??of distinction between superiority and inferiority, distinction between men and women, and ordering of elders and younger ones are also very obvious. The perfect unity of practicality and artistry is another typical feature of Huizhou folk houses. Most of the ancient dwellings in Huizhou are located near mountains and rivers. The mountains can block the wind, making it easy to get firewood for cooking and heating, and they also give people a sense of beauty. Villages are built next to water, which can not only facilitate drinking and washing, but also irrigate farmland and beautify the environment. The ancient village of Huiju has relatively rough streets, wide and tall white gables, and unique gray horse head walls.
This structure saves land, facilitates fire prevention, theft prevention, cooling and moisture-proofing, and makes each house strictly distinguishable. The white walls and gray tiles of the house are very beautiful among the green mountains and green waters. The patio of Huiju can be ventilated and lighted, and water can be brought back into the house. It also adapts to the simple mentality of not letting the rich water flow out of the field. In the old days, urban and rural residences in Huizhou were mostly buildings with brick and wood structures. The Ming Dynasty was characterized by its spacious upstairs. After the Qing Dynasty, there were mostly three-room houses with one light (hall) and two darks (left and right bedrooms) and four-bedroom houses with one light and four darks. Multiple entries into one room. The gate is decorated with stone and brick carvings of landscapes and figures. The gatehouse has double eaves and flying corners, and there are patios at each entrance to provide ventilation and light. Rainwater flows into the gutter through the water gutter. Commonly known as "Sishui Guitang", which means "wealth does not flow out". There are partition walls between each entrance, and a high fire wall (horse head wall) is built around it. From a distance, it looks like an ancient castle. Generally, a family lives together, the middle door is closed, and each family lives alone. The middle door is opened, and a large door is used to enter and exit to pay homage to the ancestors. The climate in the mountainous areas of Huizhou is humid, so people generally use the upstairs as their main habitat for daily life, preserving the legacy of the "nest dwelling" of the indigenous Shanyue people. The halls upstairs are generally relatively spacious, with halls, bedrooms and wing rooms, and there is also a "beauty couch" along the patio. North-facing residence: Unless the terrain is special, the best orientation for a house would be north-facing. However, most of the houses built in Huizhou during the Ming and Qing Dynasties had their doors facing north. It turns out that there were many taboos in the living habits of the ancient Hui people. In the Han Dynasty, there was a popular saying that "it is not advisable for merchants' gates to face south and for merchants' gates to face north". The reason is, according to the Five Elements: Shang belongs to gold, and the south belongs to fire, and fire overcomes metal, which is unlucky; Zheng belongs to fire, and the north belongs to water, and water restrains fire, which is also unlucky. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Huizhou, Huizhou merchants were at their peak. Once they made a fortune, they would return to their hometowns to build houses. For the sake of good luck, the doors never faced south, and they all lived north-facing. To this day, Huizhou still retains tens of thousands of ancient residential buildings facing north. Huizhou Houses: Houses in Huizhou are very deep, with a vestibule at the entrance, a patio in the middle, and a living hall at the back. The hall is separated from the back hall by a middle door. There are one hall and two bedrooms in the back hall. Behind the hall is a fire wall, against the wall. Set up a patio and build wing rooms on both sides. This is the first entry. The structure of the second entrance is still divided into two halls on a ridge, with two courtyards at the front and back, with partitions in the middle, four bedrooms and two halls. The structure of the third entrance, the fourth entrance or more entrances in the future is all the same, one entrance is nested inside another, forming a house within a house. Double eaves: Huizhou folk houses are all built with double-layer eaves. The formation of this custom of double eaves has a widely circulated story. It is said that during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Shezhou was under the jurisdiction of Li Yu, the later lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin launched the Chenqiao mutiny, established the Song Dynasty, and personally marched to Shezhou. When Song Taizu arrived outside Haiyang City in present-day Xiuning County, the sky suddenly changed and heavy rain was approaching. Taizu took shelter in a tile-roofed house to avoid disturbing the people. Zu ordered not to enter indoors, but the eaves of Huizhou folk houses are very small, far less than the length of eaves in the Central Plains. In addition, it was a windy and rainy day, and everyone was soaked. After the rain, the sky cleared, and the residents opened the door to find Taizu in this state. They thought that they could not escape the death penalty and knelt down. However, Taizu did not blame him and asked: Why are the eaves of Shezhou's houses so narrow? The villagers replied, "This is inherited from our ancestors, and it has always been like this." Taizu said, "Although the old system from our ancestors cannot be changed, you can build another eaves below to help passersby shelter from the rain." Village Gate 1 The pavilion was justified, so he immediately complied with the request. From then on, gradually all the houses in Huizhou were built with upper and lower eaves. Full-top bed: Huizhou traditional bed. Because the top, back and head of the bed are all surrounded by wooden boards, it is called a "full-top bed". A curtain is hung in front of the bed, like a message stand. Bed posts are mostly made of torreya wood, because the torreya tree has flowers and fruits that grow on the same tree for several years, so it has the aura of "four generations living under one roof" and "five generations of prosperity". Bed boards are usually made of 7 pieces, which means "five men and two women". The front of the bed is more exquisitely carved. The left and right sides are usually decorated with "Danfeng Chaoyang" and the upper tooth plate is carved with "Double Dragons Playing with Pearls". The railings around the bed are usually carved with exquisite patterns such as "Phoenix Playing with Peonies", "Squirrel and Grapes", "Mandarin Ducks Playing in Water". Pressed painting table: a traditional furnishing in Huizhou residences. Many paintings and couplets are hung on the middle wall of the halls of Huizhou folk houses, or the five words "Heaven, Earth, Lord, Prince, Master" are written on large red paper, all of which are framed into scrolls and hung. A long table is set up under the scroll, and two saddle-shaped painting legs are placed on the table. The scroll is unfolded downward to the long table and placed in the "saddle" of the painting legs. The painting will be flat and stable. This long table is called " Pressing table”. Architecture is a symbol of social civilization in a historical period and a microcosm of social life at that time.
Follow-up question: I saw this answer, but this is a feature, not a reason. Answer: Hui-style residences are mostly in the form of multiple courtyards (smaller ones are mostly in the three-heyuan style). They generally face north and face south, leaning against the courtyard. Mountains face water, pay attention to the value of Feng Shui. The layout is arranged symmetrically along the central axis, with three rooms in width, with a hall in the middle and rooms on both sides. The front of the hall is called a patio, which provides lighting and ventilation, and the courtyards are integrated to create a deep and self-sufficient family living space. The appearance of the residential houses has a strong sense of integrity and beauty, with high closed walls, curved horse heads, well-proportioned wall lines, black tiles and white walls, and elegant and generous colors. In terms of decoration, the beauty of the "three carvings" of Huizhou residences is breathtaking. The blue brick door covers, stone carved windows, and wooden carved pillars are integrated with the building, making the building exquisite and poetic, which can be called a major feature of Huizhou residences. feature. Huizhou's ancestral halls and memorial archways also play an important role in Huizhou-style architecture: ancestral halls are divided into main ancestral halls and branch ancestral halls. They are generally larger in scale and are composed of mountain gates, Xiangtang, dormitory halls, etc., with majestic beams. The "three eagles" are exquisite and magnificent. The archways are mainly made of stone, with four-column and five-story archways, four-column soaring arches, eight-column arches, and oral forms. They are elegant in shape and scattered in various towns. They are an important part of the cultural landscape of ancient Huizhou.
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