Guide 丨 Jiangxi Liukeng A little-known village of a thousand years old

The ancient architectural complexes spread across the fields and countryside, the splendor of the old days can be seen vaguely.

Through the existence of a thousand years - Jiangxi's ancient villages can certainly carry your soul nowhere to rest. Enjoy the "ancient first village" reputation of the Liukeng, walked through more than a dozen dynasties brilliant history, walked through the vicissitudes of time for more than a thousand years, and finally came to us; and has not yet been commercially exploited Huping ancient villages, brick walls and tiles everywhere hidden in the Ming and Qing dynasties of the ancient story. These ancient villages, so how many people soul, and will bring you what impact?

Le'an, Jiangxi, this place has a deep cultural heritage, not only has the red culture of Jiangxi characteristics, there are also spread in the Xiuzhu fields between the ancient village groups - Liukeng, is one of the most sparkling pearl.

At dusk, the village is shrouded in a light mist, and the newly built houses along the riverbank surround the ancient buildings.

The ancient village of Liukeng is located in the southwest of Le'an County, Fuzhou District, Jiangxi Province, 38 kilometers away from the county town in the north and 8 kilometers away from the town of Niutian in the west, surrounded by green mountains and green water, reflecting the traditional feng shui concept of Chinese ancient villages relying on the mountains and accompanying the water.

Near the entrance of the village, there is a large forest of ancient camphor trees

The ancient village was built in the Southern Tang Dynasty (937-943), for the Dong single-surname village, since the Northern Song Dynasty, the court blessed the light of martial arts opportunity, the Dong family poured its assets to build a school, the extensive education of talent, and from then on the science and armor flourished, the eunuchs such as clouds. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Dong family turned to business, control of the Wujiang River bamboo and wood commercial transportation, the accumulation of huge wealth so that the flow of the pit village once again towards prosperity, until the late Qing Dynasty gradual decline, the flow of the pit village was once a brilliant history of the village of the first village of a thousand years of its reputation.

Long Lake is the inner lake of the village, surrounded by ancient buildings reflected in the water.

One dusk in early summer, when the rain cleared up, we stood on Donghuashan Mountain and took our first look at the ancient village. "The clear Wujiang River is winding its way from afar, encircling this peaceful village. The rice paddies, moisturized by the rain, are full of life, a black horse-head wall is lined up in an orderly manner, and seven piers are lined up along the Wujiang River, each facing the entrance of an alley. On the stone steps of the wharf, small children hit the water with their bare bottoms; the raccoon women in their flowery costumes talk long and short, and the sound of the mallet hitting the clothes echoes over the river.

Long Lake on the porch bridge is the center of cultural activities of the village old people, playing cards, shaving, a lazy dog lying on the ground snoozing as the foreground, the whole picture is full of the unique rural atmosphere of quiet leisure.

Raindrops knocking on the back of the tile, through the window pane to see the sky is still black, not yet to the five o'clock, outside the window of the alley has been heard in the morning people's footsteps, the bridge across the village Long Lake is already bustling, picking fresh vegetables and fruits, carrying chickens, ducks, fish and meat, bargaining, yelling full of local flavor, less than six o'clock, the market on the break, the old man set up a table and stools, open the card game! The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on a new pair of shoes or boots, and you're ready to go.

Raindrops fall on the lake, ripples.

Early in the morning on the Dragon Lake is covered with a layer of light mist, raindrops falling on the lake, ripples. As the inner lake of the village, the north-south oriented Dragon Lake divides the village into east and west, the eastern building is the essence of the village, the houses extend from south to north, seven east-west alleys and a north-south vertical alleys next to the Dragon Lake, forming a seven horizontal and one vertical comb shape, and the large alleys and many small alleys cross each other, as if the chessboard. The seven horizontal alleys, the east built a pier, the west set up a watchtower, which can accept the river wind, but also can defend against foreign enemies, the layout is very delicate.

In the afternoon, only the last piece of meat left in the pork stall at the end of the corridor bridge, the meat seller has run to the side of the card game to go, a bright and shiny pig knife conspicuously placed on the meat case.

Across the Dragon Lake to the east bank, where the chessboard street condensed the essence of the Ming and Qing Dynasty architecture, more than 260 green brick, gray tile, eaves and corners of the ancient buildings high and low staggered, high horse-head wall head towards the sky, with the blue sky, with the wind as a companion, silently looking down on the alleyway to and fro and the passing of the story of their guests.

The Literary Museum on the shore of Longhu Lake is reflected in the lake, like a dream.

These Ming and Qing architectural clusters, there are classical and chic residential buildings, grand and atmospheric ancestral halls, delicate and small temple buildings, as well as pagodas, theaters, academies, bridges, ancient wells and other buildings rich in Chinese cultural connotations, a wide range of walking through the village of Liukeng is like browsing through a complete list of ancient Chinese architecture.

Huizhou architectural features with flying eaves and warped corners

From the entrance of "Liren Gate", you can lead to Chess Board Street

A lion and a dog are harmonized with each other, and they are very interesting to each other.

The houses in Liukeng Village are all one-and-a-half-storey brick structures, and their layout is mostly two and three rooms, one hall, more front halls and back halls in the Ming Dynasty, and more front halls and back halls in the Qing Dynasty, and there is a narrower patio in front of the halls, not only for the purpose of lighting and ventilation, but also to take the meaning of the four waters return to the halls, that is to say, as they say, the flow of fertilizer and water to the field of the outsiders, the design of which inadvertently connects the people and the sky, reflecting the "unity of man and nature". This design invariably connects people with the sky, reflecting the meaning of "unity of heaven and mankind".

The lintel and eaves of the mansion are still well preserved, and most of the villagers still live in it.

The Old Mansion Old Stories of the Elderly

It is said that the people of Liukeng also like to keep tortoises in the patio, and the tortoises often move around in the ditch, which has the effect of natural dredging, so that no matter how heavy the rain is, the water in the patio can be drained quickly.

The old mansion is a place for children to play

Walking in the long alleys, the rain washes the cobblestone floor underfoot, and between the cobblestone cracks in the corners of the walls, clusters of grasses and flowers soften the hard pebbles. The villagers said that these pebbles are not only non-slip and able to foot massage, no wonder the village old people are all full of heaven, red face.

The rain washed the cobblestone ground underfoot and made it shiny

The alleys were not lonely on a rainy day, the farmers wearing straw raincoats and hats carried plows and led cows from the side, and the children with their backpacks cheered and jumped with the sound of laughter echoed, and the women and old people walking down the street chatted with their voices in the family business, and the strong atmosphere of rural life filled every corner of the long streets and short alleys.

Ancient villages covered by rainwater

The water beads sliding down from the eaves of the houses on both sides of the alleyway knocked on the green stone slabs on the side of the road, and under the green stone slabs is a unified sewer through the whole village planning, the rainwater and the living water after biological purification together with the Longhu Lake, and then finally into the lower reaches of the Wujiang River. These ancient villages and towns of the drainage system is not only beautiful and generous, but also scientific and practical, is the wisdom of the ancient working people.

The overgrown Dong Clan Ancestral Hall

The Dong Clan Ancestral Hall, built during the Southern Song Dynasty, used to be the largest ancestral hall in the village, but unfortunately, it was destroyed by the war of the Northern Warlords during the Republican period. Nowadays, only the five granite pillars and some broken walls of the Hall are left in the ruins of the Grand Ancestral Hall standing in the deserted grass, and the cold wind whistles under the low-level dark clouds and the cold rain is continuous, and when you touch the pillars, it seems that you can hear the long sighs and cries that linger in the ruins.

The entrance to the shrine is also the best place for villagers to chat

In the distance, suddenly drifted a burst of drums and music, following the sound, it turned out to be the village of the ancient theater is staged a traditional Nuo opera. Nuo opera, is circulating in the countryside of a ritual to drive away ghosts and epidemics, Liukeng Nuo dance, rumored to have originated in the Liukeng Dong's sixth ancestor Dong Dunyi.

Came to the ancient theater when the day is raining heavily, in addition to a few of us almost no other tourists, empty theater only an old man on the stage performing Nuo dance.

Rainy days, no tourists empty theater, the stage is only an old man wearing a mask dancing Nuo, dim lights, long silhouettes projected on the floor in silence. I came to the backstage during the break, an old man sitting next to the mask of the costume off quietly smoking a cigarette, with the slow aging of time.

Lonely perseverance

Nowadays, Liukeng Nuo opera class is not what it used to be, the troupe's income is meager, many young people are out of work, no one wants to stay here, only a few old people are still sticking to this occupation, as many traditional Chinese culture, they are facing the edge of the fault.

The village in the fisheye lens

Huping Village, about 17 kilometers from Liukeng Village, is an undeveloped Ming and Qing dynasty village. Like Liukeng Village, it's surrounded by mountains, with a gurgling brook in the village, and a large number of ancient houses are scattered in the higher ground in the south because of the high terrain in the south and low terrain in the north.

The pond at the entrance of the village

Most of the villagers are of the Wang clan, strolling in the village, the long cobblestone paved alleys connecting all kinds of tall ancestral halls, pagodas and ancient dwellings, next to the pond in the center of the village, the three simple and tall gatehouse reflecting in the water, after generations of storms and winds, behind the gatehouse of the houses have been dilapidated and the past prosperity can only be scattered in the remnants of brick walls and tile seams.

The villagers who are helping to organize the wedding banquet

Looking back at these ancient villages in the drizzle, the old buildings are still infiltrated in the damp ink, fading away the gorgeous appearance, the former splendor has been with the passing of the Wujiang River, the rest is more ordinary people's fireworks and rustic countryside.

The combination of ancestral halls and pagodas is a major feature of the architecture of Huping Ancient Village, and almost every ancestral hall has a pagoda.

These beautiful buildings can be seen everywhere in the village, but unfortunately, most of them are deserted and dilapidated.

The village is surrounded by these beautiful buildings.