Part B – Ancient Villages Around Huangshan City

5.  Around Huagshan City (Tunxi “屯 溪”) – (17th – 24th Nov)

5.1   Huangshan City

Huangshan City is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the 21st Century. Huangshan City has a history of over 2,200 years. Its two oldest counties, Shexian and Yixian, were established during Qing Dynasty when the system of prefecture and county took shape. Huangshan City was formerly called Xin'an Prefecture, and later Huizhou Prefecture until it got current name in 1987 for the breathtaking beauty of Mt. Huangshan. Huizhou has become known as a remarkable place for producing great scholars, painters, artists and merchants. The contributions of these talented and industrious people have brought about the glorious and magnificent Huizhou Culture.

With its more than 2000-year history and its flourishing Huizhou culture, the city boasts a multitude of tourist attractions. Besides the world-famous Mt. Huangshan there are the well-preserved ancient villages, crystal-clear lakes and so on. Old residences, archways, clan temples, ancient bridges and pagodas are abundant.

The best known sites are located in Shexian and Yixian Counties. Some of these are Xugou Memorial Archway and Tangyue Archway, Xidi and Hongcun Ancient Villages, just to name a few.  

5.2  Tunxi Old Street in Huangshan City

Tunxi Old Street lies in the centre of Tunxi District, the location of Huangshan City Municipality. The Street, with centuries-old history, dates back to the Song Dynastry (960–1279). The pavement is paved with maroon flagstones and is about 5 meters wide with a total length of just over a kilometer. It is a commercial street only for pedestrians with shops of 2- or 3-storeys standing on both sides which have existed for over one hundred years. Many of these shops feature the local Anhui style of stone based walls and tiled roofs. The layout of these shops commonly takes on the appearance of shops in front while residences or workshops are at the back. Many curios, including ink sticks, ink slabs, brushes, papers and local teas are sold in many of these shops and I purchased some in one of them.

In the Tunxi Museum, there are displays of calligraphy, paintings and china. In this Museum I bought some brush paintings and a painted crystal ball.

                                                 Entrances to Tunxi Old Street

                               Tunxi Old Street                                                       Tunxi Museum

5.3  Mukeng & the Bamboo Forest near Hungcun

It was a pleasant 30-minute walk up a mountain trail surrounded with cool and shaded bamboo forest and quaint hillside villages dotting the valleys.

The Oscar-awarded movie “Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon” was filmed here.

5.4  Hongcun Village (宏 村)– A world cultural heritage site

Hungcun Village is a unique ancient village occupying an area of about 30 hectares with over 150 dwelling houses dated back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. From the bird’s eye-view, the village is shaped like a resting water buffalo with the Nanhu (South Lake) at its entrance as the buffalo’s belly. The rows of buildings in the village are the body of the buffalo and the crooked man-made canals which run in the village are the intestines of the buffalo.

 Hungcun is surrounded by green mountains and large rice fields.

The crescent-shaped pond is surrounded by ancestral houses and temples

(Huaqiao - Picturesque Bridge) spans across the middle of the South Lake.

All buildings have exquisite carvings and were built with fine craftsmanship, regarded as the best in China. Among them, Chengzhi Hall is a big and gorgeous residential building with many rooms including one majiong and one opium-smoking room!

Chengzhi Hall

An old street in Hungcun                                                The “horns” of the water buffalo

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