Anhui - Ancient Villages ( Xidi and Hongcun )

Xidi Village:
    Approximately 54 kilometers from Tunxi where Huangshan Municipal Government is seated, Xidi is a village that extends 700 meters from east to west and 200 meters from south to north. It has more than 1,000 people in 300 households.
    Historical records show that one of the sons of Emperor Li Ye (Zhaozhong) in the Tang Dynasty fled from the war turmoil in the country's capital and settled down in this out-of-the-way place. To avoid troubles, he changed his family name from Li to Hu. Following generations of hard but silent work, his family flourished. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911), scholars from the Hu family were engaged in business and made plenty of money. While trying to expand business in other parts of China, they commissioned some of the best architects in the country to design houses, schools, ancestral temples, roads and bridges that matched their riches. Large-scale construction went on for generations, and what emerged was the best Ming- and Qing-style residential houses to be found in the country along with a labyrinth of marble-paved country road and street lanes. Many have been destroyed either by war or by the elements, but several hundred of them have survived.
    As one enters the village, a five-storey bluestone torii catches one's eye. It is an ancient-style gate that is supported by four posts and five studs. Lofty and steep, it is a fit expression of the brilliant status achieved by the Hu family. In the middle of the village is a hall named "Lufutang Hall". Dating back to the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1662-1722), the hall is known for its elegant decoration and scholarly atmosphere. Another ancient building, called "Big Mansion", was built in 1691. A wooden sign on the building says "The Family of Peach Blossom Cradle". Somehow it has long been part of a folk lore that the main hall of this building served as the place where girls from the Hu family threw a highly elaborate ball of embroidery at random to find their husbands-a custom that was prevalent in many parts of China.
    Touring the village today, one never fails to be impressed by the fact that every house represents a treasure house where traditional Chinese works of art can be found. There are, for instance, small but intricately laid-out courtyards and gardens, stone doorframes and windows with carved flowers, birds and beasts, brick and wood carvings featuring ancient theatrical scenes, and ornate drawings and frescos. 

Hongcun Village:
    Located in the northwest of Yixian County, 65 kilometers from Tunxi, Hongcun originally was constructed for the settlement of those whose family name was Wang, in North Song Dynasty (960-1127). In Hongcun, hundreds of ancient houses stand row by row, the best-known being Chengzhi House built by a salt merchant in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911). Chengzhi House, covering a floor space of 2,000 square meters, is acclaimed as the best example of woodcarvings for house decoration in Anhui Province. Beautiful in design and elegant in style, the woodcarvings decorate the crossbeams, pendentives, doors and window pillars. Of particular interest are a woodcarving of the same figure with different faces and one of the same face with different expressions. 
     Incredibly, the water system of Hongcun was designed in the shape of an ox. Channels, representing the "intestines", allow water to flow by every house so that villagers can do their washing near their houses. The Moon Pond, the "stomach", so to speak, filtrates all the water that comes to it after flowing by houses and then allows it to go to the South Pond for further filtration. It takes no stretch of imagination that the South Pond was given the name of "abdomen". It is from this pond that the water is finally discharged into a river near the village.
    Understandably, Hongcun's water system has been guarded as a treasure with jealousy by the villagers and considered a masterpiece of residential architecture by experts both at home and abroad. Many experts in architecture and anthropology have come to the village on special tours from Japan, the U.S., and Germany.