Architectural characteristics of Lingnan residential buildings

When it comes to Guangzhou folk houses, the first reaction of ordinary people is xiguan big house. The so-called Xiguan refers to the old Guangzhou people's collective name for the area located in Liwan District, west village in the north, Pearl River in the south, Renmin Road in the east and Koshiroe in the west, and the area outside the west gate of Guangzhou in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Xiguan was the commercial center of Guangzhou in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Eighteen banks were built and thirteen banks were opened in the late Ming Dynasty. Since the middle and late Qing Dynasty, Bao Hua Street, Baoyuan Street, Duobao Street, Fengyuan Street and other merchant rich gentlemen's residences have appeared (Bao Hua Street, Baoyuan Street and Duobao Street are called "Three Treasures of Xiguan"), and Xiguan has thus become a representative of Guangzhou fashion. The big house in Xiguan area also became the landmark building of Guangfu folk houses in that period.

The layout of xiguan big house is generally symmetrical, with the main hall on the central axis, one entrance for each hall and two or three entrances for the whole house. The hall is separated by a small patio, which is covered by a skylight for lighting and ventilation. On both sides of the main hall are slant halls and slant rooms, and there are lanes on both sides of the slant room of the big house, which are called Qingyun Lane, also known as "cold lane", "fire lane" and "water lane". It has many functions such as transportation, ventilation and lighting.

The most distinctive decoration in xiguan big house is the gate, which is generally divided into three parts, called "three heads". On the outermost side of the street are four opposite screen doors, also called low-hanging doors or flower doors. The upper part of the flower gate is decorated with wood carvings, inlaid with colored glass or lined with crochet curtains, and the top two corners are usually symmetrically carved with a bunch of wood carvings such as grapes or squirrels as decoration. Screen doors can block the sight of pedestrians on the street without affecting lighting and ventilation, especially reflecting the life orientation of Guangzhou people-paying attention to the independent living space and personal privacy of small houses, and at the same time, ensuring ventilation is the first priority in the sultry and rainy Lingnan area. Behind the screen door is a unique trip to Lingnan. Travel is the beginning and travel is the end. Travel is a wooden door that can slide on and off. Its principle and function are similar to modern horizontal pull safety door. The gate after a trip is the real gate, which is usually thick and used for theft prevention.

At the peak, there were more than 800 rooms in xiguan big house, but there are less than 100 rooms, and few of them are well preserved. Now in Xiguan, you feel more about the civilian life in Guangzhou-narrow and crowded roads, small shops selling small commodities that can't be bought elsewhere, and many people cut them into irregular old houses.

At present, the well-preserved xiguan big house includes xiguan big house District, which is located in Hua Yao Street of Wenchang North Road, Taihua Building, Duobaofang and Xiaohuafangzhai of Enning Road, Fengyuan Street of Jinlong Road, Jinlong xiguan big house Architectural Protection Zone, south of Panxi Hotel in Liwan District (from Jinlong West Road in the east, to the upper branch of the original Xiguan in the west, to Fengyuan Shamian Lane in the north, and to Sanlian Straight Street in the south), xiguan big house on both sides of the southern section of Bao Hua Road, and Dawu Group of Nanhua West Street in Haizhu District. At present, Nanhua West Street is an internally controlled historical and cultural protection zone in Guangzhou, and it is also a mansion group of Longdao New Street in Haizhu District.