What are the characteristics of Xidi and Hongcun?

Ancient villages in southern Anhui, reflecting the unique regional culture and the harmony of ancient Chinese people in terms of man and nature. Xidi and Hongcun are the representatives of these charming ancient villages.

Hongcun is located in the northeast of Yixian County, 10 kilometers from the county seat. Hongcun was built in the Southern Song Dynasty, and it is the place where the Wang family gathered and lived. With a history of 800 years, Hongcun, shaped like a cow, is one of the wonders of today's world cultural heritage. It is a unique place with its beautiful lakes and mountains, blending humanistic and natural landscapes, which is why artists call it "the countryside in Chinese paintings".

The village is laid out in the shape of a cow. From the site selection, planning to the construction of buildings, Hongcun is a place where people consciously strengthen the form of "ox" in nature from certain cultural and religious concepts, reflecting the worship and reliance on ox by the farming nation.

Hongcun has a street system similar to a square grid, with granite paving, and a unique water street space formed by the artificial water system that passes through every house. The village is centered on a half-moon shaped pond, Yue Numa, surrounded by houses and ancestral halls. The moon swamp and the water surface of the South Lake, reflecting the ancient and simple buildings, are surrounded by green mountains, keeping Hongcun in Yixian County alive, and showing the unique value of Hongcun's human environment and landscape value.

The Ming and Qing architectural complexes of Hongcun have retained their historical prototypes and are basically well-preserved. There are academy buildings, ancestral halls and numerous residential buildings as well as private gardens, which are the outstanding representatives of Huizhou architectural culture and of high historical, artistic and scientific value. Due to the mild climate of the area, it is suitable for the growth of plants, and the ancient trees and ancient buildings reflect each other. Most of the residential houses have flower beds and bonsai set up in combination with water sources, which are masterpieces of ancient Huizhou private gardens with exquisite landscaping. The private gardens represented by Deyi Hall and Biyuan, and the architecture of the academy represented by Nanhu Academy, centrally reflect the flourishing and prosperity of Confucian culture in Huizhou in the 18th century.

After 800 years of planning and development, Hongcun has become a classic Chinese ancient village. It can be said that the integration of Hongcun's ancient architecture and its landscape environment has become the most important historical symbol of Hongcun.

Xidi is located in the southeast of Yixian County, Anhui Province, the village area of 13 hectares, east-west length of 700 meters, north-south width of 300 meters, is a typical clan blood relations as a link, through several generations of reproduction and become the village of the same clan settlement. The village is dominated by the Hu clan. From a distance, its architectural shape resembles a kind of boat shape. The scenery and landscape here are fascinating, a rare feng shui treasure, and humanistic landscapes can be seen everywhere.

As early as in ancient times, the traditional Chinese concept of emphasizing studying to be an official and belittling doing business had begun to falter. Xidi village in most of the readers began to abandon the book business, bid farewell to their hometowns, among the powerful "Hui merchants" team. Because most of them read a lot of books, in the process of business, has a more scientific business ideas and methods, often "to one for ten" to profiteer. For this reason, Xidi gradually changed into a strong financial strength of the village.

With the decline in population, coupled with other reasons, this has thousands of years of civilization history of the ancient village, began to decline. Today, Xidi ancient village residents only 300 households, more than 1,000 people, most of them make a living by farming. Fortunately, Xidi so far preserved more complete residential still have more than 120, is China's modern preservation of one of the more complete ancient residential complexes, it is known as the experts, "the Oriental ancient architecture of the treasure house of art".