Hongcun Village

Hongcun Village is located in the Yixian County of Anhui Province. It is one of the representative ancient villages in the southern part of Anhui Province. Firstly built in 1131 A.D., the village now has a history of almost 1000 years. The ancient Hongcun villagers adopted “bionics” to the design of buildings and constructed the cattle-shaped village and man-made water system that can be called as “A Uniqueness of China”. The bird’s eye view of the whole village resembles a large buffalo that is perking its head and lifting its legs. This can be said as one of the wonders in the history of construction. So far, the water system, streets, folk houses and even interior arrangements of the village are completely preserved as the primitive conditions of the ancient village.

Now, there are more than 140 ancient folk houses which can be dated back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties and also preserved in sound conditions. The beautiful and imposing “Chengzhi Hall” is the representative of the ancient folk houses in the southern part of Anhui Province. The wooden decoration of the construction of “Chengzhi Hall” is so beautiful that no other buildings can be comparable with it. Also, there are many layers and characters and the facial expression of them are vivid and different from the other ones. They can be said as the fine works among the wood carvings in the “Three Carvings” art of Anhui Style. The Moon Pond and South Lake of the Hongcun Village is the most charming natural scenery. The Moon Pond is a half-moon shaped pond that is as smooth as a mirror and remain verdure all the year round. Blue and white cloud all drops into the pond, the sight of which is so attractive that one is hard to turn away from it. The South Lake is located in the southern part of the Hongcun Village. It is a bow shaped man-made lake constructed by mimicking the model of the West Lake and the famous South Lake College is situated along its side. A lot of poets and painters from the ancient times to the present days have left many poems and paintings here.

The exquisitely arranged yards and buildings of Hongcun and the beautiful landscapes help to reflect the beauty of each other. Here, the visitors can find sceneries everywhere and every place is picturesque and featuring inviting natural beauty. The traditional countryside scenery of China which had been cleared away or changed in the last century has been well preserved here. As a result, the village is called the “village in traditional Chinese painting”. In 1999, Hongcun, together with Xidi was evaluated as “World Cultural Heritage Site” by the UNESCO.