World Natural and Cultural Heritage Tour: Ancient Villages of Western Anhui - Xidi in Yi County and Hongcun

Author: Yu Zhihui et al. / Country:
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Features: In ancient Yixing, building houses required first assessing the auspiciousness of the direction, then selecting a propitious day before commencing construction. Even in the most unfavorable land conditions, the main structure of the house must face the auspicious direction, and this orientation is reflected in the orientation of the main gate. Therefore, the gate holds a special symbolic significance. As the gateway for entry and exit, the gate is considered the "mouth of Qi" in Feng Shui, which emphasizes Qi. This is why there is the saying, "Better to stand a thousand tombs for others than to set a single gate for them." In Yixing, few ancient residential main gates face south, demonstrating the strong constraint of Feng Shui beliefs. Most ancient Yixing residential main gates face east, west, or north. Occasionally, some houses, constrained by their foundation, had to open their gates to the south, but even then, they would try to angle them slightly, preferring a slanted door that seemed somewhat awkward. There are multiple explanations for this phenomenon.
From the perspective of feudalism: In feudal society, many things were divided by hierarchy, including directions like east, west, south, and north. Ancient times referred to the south as the "supreme direction," with palaces, temples, and imperial thrones all facing due south, symbolizing "reigning southward." Because the south was so revered, common folk dared not build their houses facing the exact midpoint of the meridian to the south, opting instead to angle slightly east or west to avoid incurring penalties for "taboo."
From the perspective of Feng Shui theory: The Feng Shui theory for residential site selection in Yixing requires "Xun Mountain, Qian Direction." According to the Post of the I Ching, Xun corresponds to southeast, and Qian corresponds to northwest, meaning a good house should face southeast and back northwest. More critically, according to observations by Yixing Feng Shui masters over generations, the "dragon vein" of Yixing originates in the northwest. In the Earthly Branches system, northwest corresponds to Geng, You, and Shen, which are all "metal" in the Five Elements. The south corresponds to Wu, Yin, and Xu, which are all "fire" in the Five Elements. Fire overpowers metal, so a gate facing due south is considered a "conflict vein," leading to the curse of "three generations without descendants." Building a house is a lifelong endeavor, with the hope of passing on to future generations—no one would dare to risk such a fate!
Another Feng Shui theory suggests that ancient Yixing people had many taboos during house construction, which were closely tied to local culture and economy. In Yixing, commerce was the "foremost livelihood," and since the Han Dynasty, the saying "merchants' gates should not face south, and military gates should not face north" had spread. Since "merchants" belong to metal and the south belongs to fire, fire overpowers metal, making south-facing gates inauspicious. The military, symbolizing "martial might," was associated with fire, while the north belongs to water, which overpowers fire. In feudal society, facing north was a symbol of defeat, with losing battles called "facing north in defeat." Therefore, military houses should not face north. In ancient Yixing, not only did ordinary houses not face due south, but even the ancestral halls of prominent clans avoided south-facing entrances. Today, the only ancient buildings in Yixing with south-facing gates are the ruins of the old county government office. Why did the grand hall of the county government office dare to face south? It is said that because the emperor "reigned southward," the county government offices appointed by the imperial court represented the emperor in governing the people, so there were no taboos against south-facing gates.
Due to frequent wars and social instability, people who traveled for business found it difficult to return home. Over time, they had no choice but to bring their families to live abroad or start new families elsewhere, sending money home annually to support their families. This led to a negative population growth rate in Xidi's Hu family. With the population declining year after year, many houses fell into disrepair, some were sold cheaply, and others collapsed naturally. Non-Hu tenant farmers living on the slopes outside the village began to gradually move in, disrupting the Hu clan's centuries-long tradition of living in a large family unit. However, the complete dissolution of clan consciousness only occurred after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
After 1949, the Hu descendants living in Xidi lost their former strong economic and political support, plunging them into chaos as they adjusted their entire way of life. Land reform bound them back to the land, transforming them from a non-productive consumer group into self-sufficient producers. The unique lifestyle of agricultural production forced them to adapt to their living environment. Temples became collective grain stores, study rooms turned into storage spaces, gardens into vegetable patches and pigsties. Exquisite wooden carvings wereed with nails, hanging hats and raincoats. Women with bound feet stepped out of the deep courtyard and struggled toward the fields.
However, these changes were merely adjustments to adapt to new living conditions and did not yet cause destructive damage to the ancient houses. The true destructive damage occurred during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. During this period, nearly two-thirds of Xidi's residential houses, temples, archways, academies, and shrines, along with vast amounts of stone, brick, and wooden carvings, as well as numerous calligraphy and painting artifacts, were wantonly destroyed.