Historical development of ancient villages in southern Anhui

The mountainous area in southern Anhui has a long history and profound cultural accumulation, and a large number of traditional buildings and their villages with similar forms and distinctive features have been preserved. The ancient villages in southern Anhui are not only ingeniously combined with topography, landforms and mountains and rivers, but also with the strong economic strength of Huizhou merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties, culture and education are increasingly prosperous. After returning home, they conceived to build houses with elegant, cultured, lofty and detached mentality, which enriched the cultural environment of ancient villages and made the village landscape more prominent. The ancient villages in southern Anhui have been registered in the world cultural heritage in 2000, and now they have become a precious wealth shared by all mankind. As the typical representatives of ancient villages in southern Anhui, Xidi and Hongcun villages in yi county have taken the lead in being listed in the World Cultural Heritage List.

"Ancient villages in southern Anhui" have typical characteristics of mountain villages, also known as "Huizhou ancient villages". Most of the existing ancient village buildings in southern Anhui were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, mainly in the Qing Dynasty, and those before the Ming Dynasty were rare.

Architecture, as far as it is concerned, has the characteristics of structural layout, which cannot make it have eternal value and lose the support of culture. Architecture is like a shell without soul. Therefore, the study of ancient villages in southern Anhui cannot but consider the profound "Huizhou culture" behind them. Huizhou culture refers to the typical characteristic culture that occurred and existed in Huizhou in history and radiated and influenced from it. Geographically, it includes Shexian, yi county, Xiuning, Qimen, Jixi and Wuyuan counties under the jurisdiction of Huizhou government. Historically, it mainly refers to the period from the establishment of Huizhou government in the third year of Xuanhe in the Northern Song Dynasty (1 12 1) to the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the cultural phenomenon in this period is the main body of Huizhou culture.

Southern Anhui has been known as "eight mountains, one water and one field" since ancient times, so for local people, relatively little and barren land can't support themselves. Faced with a strong desire to improve their lives, the local people have formed a far-reaching custom of attaching importance to literature and commerce.

Huizhou residents have attached great importance to education since ancient times, and the concept of changing their lives through imperial examinations is deeply rooted in the local area. Huizhou has always had a prosperous style of writing, which is recorded in history. In the Song Dynasty, there were 12 academies in Huizhou. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were 70 academies and 562 social studies. "One village and ten households don't waste their studies" is a profound portrayal of the developed local education. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were as many as 996 people in Huizhou, with 6 18 champions, while there were 19 champions in Xiuning County alone. Xiuning "the hometown of top scholars" and "the first top scholar county in China" are worthy of the name. In Huizhou, stories such as "Three Academics Written by Three Chapters, Four Hanlin Scholars in Ten Miles", "One Scholar, Four Brothers History", "Fellow Hanlin" and "Father-son History" are by no means empty talk, which shows that the local culture is profound and the style of writing is prosperous, which can be praised in the world and in history. Huizhou has beautiful mountains and rivers and pleasant green water, which is called "Yu Xiu of Zhong Ling" and "outstanding people".

On the other hand, unlike China's tradition of attaching importance to agriculture and neglecting business, businessmen are highly respected by Huizhou people who rely on going out to do business to conquer the world and gain the reputation of "Huizhou merchants". Facing the shortage of local land, doing business has become another way out for Huizhou people besides the imperial examination. Since the Song Dynasty, a large number of Huizhou people have gone abroad to do business. Because of their honesty, flexible methods and rich profits, there are many Huizhou merchants who have made a fortune at one time.

The fallen flowers will eventually wither, and the green leaves need to return to their roots. When groups of people who travel and do business go back to China, they bring not only an experience and a fortune, but also a vision and a culture. The local landscape structure makes the architecture of Huizhou ancient villages compact, while the local cultural background of attaching importance to literature and commerce endows them with profound cultural atmosphere and strong garden sentiment. Small and exquisite structural characteristics and profound Huizhou cultural connotation make the ancient village buildings in southern Anhui have lasting vitality and attraction. As the carrier of Huizhou culture, it conveys not only a brilliant experience, but also a cultural vitality.