Hongcun

Author: Jin Yihui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: The Village in Chinese Painting - Hongcun, a World Heritage Site, was built during the Shaoxi period in Nanning and has a history of over 800 years. The ancient people of Hongcun, with their clever wisdom, pioneered the concept of "Biomimicry," creating a well-planned and meticulously designed ancient water system village known as the "Peerless Wonder of China." It has become one of the great miracles of world historical and cultural heritage today. Hongcun integrates humanistic landscapes with natural landscapes, earning it the name "The Village in Chinese Painting." Located 10 kilometers northeast of Yixing City, Hongcun is surrounded by green mountains and clear waters, with lakes and clouds forming its unique charm. It is backed by the foothills of Huangshan Mountain, such as Yangzhanling and Leigang Mountain, with high terrain often shrouded in mist and clouds. At times, it resembles a bold, ink-and-ink painting, while at others, it is like a light, brush-and-ink sketch, resembling a scroll of landscapes that blends natural and humanistic scenery, earning it the name "The Village in Chinese Painting." Especially, the entire village is laid out in the shape of a "cow," which is even more celebrated as one of the great miracles of world historical and cultural heritage today. The majestic and lush Leigang Mountain stands as the cow's head, the towering ancient trees are its horns, and the clusters of residential buildings, arranged in a scattered yet orderly manner from east to west, resemble the vast body of the cow. A stream from the northwest of the village is diverted to flow around the houses, forming a winding, nine-bend water channel that gathers the village's natural springs into a moon-shaped pond, resembling the cow's intestines and stomach. The water channel eventually flows into the lake in the south of the village, known as the cow's belly. Later, four bridges were built over the streams around the village, serving as the cow's legs. After years of development, a totem of a cow emerged. This ingenious and scientific design of the village's water system not only provided fire protection water for the villagers but also regulated the temperature, offering convenience for production and daily life, creating a favorable environment where "the path to the stream is far, yet every door has a clear spring." Hongcun is also known as Hongcun, both meaning "prosperity and vastness." Hongcun Wang Ji is a descendant of Wang Hua, the Duke of Yue in the early Tang Dynasty. The village was founded in the Song Dynasty. The clusters of hundreds of ancient residential buildings with white walls and green tiles, arranged in a dense and orderly manner, especially the Chengzhi Hall, Jingxiu Hall, and Dongxian Hall, known as the "People's Palace," with their exquisite carvings and vibrant colors, as well as the grand and spacious Xilian Hall and Sanli Hall, together with the smooth, mirror-like Yuezao and the emerald waves of Nanhu Lake, the deep alleys, the quaint shops along the stone-paved streets, the towering ancient trees on Leigang Mountain, and the vines and stone pillars peeking over the courtyards of the residential buildings, the century-old peonies, the imposing Xuren Hall, Shangyuan Hall, and the Nanhu College with the 93-year-old Hanlin Shiting Li Tongshu's personally inscribed plaque "Yi Wen Jia Shu" – all form a perfect artistic whole, truly making every step a scenic view and every place worthy of being painted. At the same time, they reflect the profound and extensive cultural heritage left by a long history. By the Qing Dynasty, Hongcun had become "a bustling metropolis with thousands of households and densely packed buildings," and today it remains the seat of the Jili Town People's Government. Since the mid-1980s, tourism has been developed in Hongcun. Leaders such as Qiao Shi and Zhu Rongji have visited and inspected the village, while artists like Chen Fuli, Qiong Yao, and Chen Kaige have come to Hongcun for artistic creation. In the 1990s, the number of inbound tourists to Hongcun grew by 40.5% annually, with most of them being visitors from Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas.