The role of folk houses in southern Anhui

Blue tiles and white walls are the outstanding impression of Huizhou architecture. The patchwork horse head wall not only has the beauty of modeling, but also has the practical function of preventing fire and blocking the spread of fire. One of the characteristics of Huizhou folk houses is high walls and deep courtyards. On the one hand, it is to prevent thieves, on the other hand, it is the need for mobile families suffering from displacement to gain psychological security. Another feature of Huizhou folk houses is the inner courtyard centered on the deep patio, surrounded by high walls, with almost no tiles outside, and only the narrow patio is used for lighting, ventilation and communication with the outside world. This basic shape with patio as the center and high walls closed is the focus of attention. Rainwater falling on rainy days flows into the patio from four roofs, commonly known as "four waters return to the hall", which also vividly reflects the mentality of Huizhou merchants that "fat water does not flow to outsiders", similar to Shanxi folk houses.

Southern Anhui is famous for preserving a large number of ancient buildings in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Xin 'an is the hometown of culture, and there are many bureaucrats and businessmen in history. There are hundreds of non-commissioned officers in Shexian County alone. Huizhou merchants are all over southern Anhui. "The leaders of rich houses are the first to promote Xin 'an in the south of the Yangtze River", and their great wealth has created this exquisite museum of ancient houses in southern Anhui. The ancient buildings in Huizhou during the Ming and Qing Dynasties were mainly concentrated in yi county, Shexian, Jixi and Xiuning. Yixian has more than ten ancient villages such as Xidi, Hongcun, Bishan and Pingshan. There are many ancient buildings in Miancheng. The county has preserved hundreds of valuable ancient buildings. There is 122 building in Xidi alone. There are 365 ancient buildings, more than 0/00 precious buildings and 27 ancient ancestral halls in Shexian County, which are concentrated in Xiongcun, Chengkan, Qiankou, Tang Yue and Shen Du villages. Jixi now has more than 100 ancient buildings, concentrated in Xiangtou, Kengkou, fengcun and Shangzhuang.

Ancient villages are generally composed of memorial archways, houses, ancestral halls, water inlets, road pavilions and workshops. Some villages are very large, for example, there are 99 streets and lanes in Chengkan, and strangers often get lost when they go in. Many villages are well organized, and the water system in Hongcun is an example. Hongcun dammed the mountain at the head of the village, and the canals in the village entered every household from both sides of the street and merged into the Moon Pond in the middle of the village. Then it is diverted to households and flows into South Lake. Every household has large and small canals for washing clothes and drinking water. The layout of residential buildings is generally a courtyard centered on the courtyard, with a height of two floors. Large and medium-sized houses adopt multi-courtyard combination, and the buildings are all white walls and tiles. In the old days, the buildings of many large families were large in scale, decorated with Huizhou three sculptures, with exquisite layout and patchwork. Pieces of ancient buildings in southern Anhui are embedded in the vast mountains and beautiful waters of Huangshan Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain and Xin 'anjiang River. It is a world-class park without makeup.