About 11 kilometers (7 miles) due northeast of Yixian County, Hongcun
Ancient Village has the praise singer's worth of 'a village in the fairy
tale Chinese picture'.
With a 900 years existence, Hongcun
Ancient Village is designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.
The village layout resembles body of an ox, with Leigang Hill being the
'head', two huge trees on the hill: the 'horns', the residences: the
'body', a winding stream: the 'entrails', Moon Pond: the 'stomach' and
the four bridges forming the 'four legs'.
Hongcun Ancient Village has about 140 original Ming (1368 - 1644) and
Qing (1644 - 1911) style residences. Identifiable with pink walls and
black tiles, all the residences are sturdy. Among them, the Chengzhi
Hall is the most outstanding and is praised as the 'Folk Imperial
Palace'. Numerous carvings decorate the columns, beams and door frames
and are gilded. Some five kilograms (11 pounds) of gold was used in
gilding the wood carvings!
Other halls are Wang Ancestral Hall, Jingxiu Hall, Jingde Hall and Lexu Hall.
On the north bank of South Lake in Hongcun Village, Nanhu Academy
occupies about 6,600 square meters (7,900 square yards). It’s a
local-style building of southern Anhui Province. The academy's six parts
are: Zhidao Hall uses as classroom, Wenchang Hall warehouses the
Confucian memorial tablet, Huiwen Hall is reading room, Qimeng Hall uses
for elementary education, Wanghu Pavilion a viewing pavilion and Qiyuan
Garden a functional inner courtyard.