Hongcun, Anhui

As per my last entry, while Yingtze was here to visit, we went on a trip to Hongcun 宏村 and Huangshan or Yellow Mountain. Hongcun is located in Yi county 黟县，of Anhui province安徽. This village was first founded in the Southern Song dynasty, about 900 years ago.

Hongcun
We spent an idyllic afternoon walking around Hongcun, where we got to witness some part of village life. As with any other tourist destination, it is overrun by souvenir shops and tourist-oriented facilities. Doesn’t help its on the World Heritage List either. However, since there weren’t too many visitors around, it was, for the most part, rather peaceful.

With its unique, well-preserved architecture, old houses and pretty ponds, Hongcun is a haven for budding artists. While we were there, we saw crowds of art school students sitting on little stools, intently studying the architecture of the village houses and transforming them into sketches and water-paintings. Even at 6am, there was a sizeable bunch of determined kids out at the Moon pond (月沼).

We also toured around some old houses including Chengzhi Hall built by rich businessmen in the 1800s. Big spacious houses that reflected the stature and wealth of the businessmen.
Remarkably, some of the elaborate and intricate wood carvings in these old houses survived the Cultural revolution. Some wise person had the foresight to smear mud over the carvings and wrote pro-revolutionary statements over them so no one dared to destroy them.

The design of the 承志堂 was well-considered. The main door of the house could be barricaded in three different ways for extra security. As a snub, visitors of lesser importance had to enter via the smaller side doors. The courtyards provided ample natural light, and the ponds added an elegant touch to the house. The mahjong room even included a little shed for the mistress(es) to hide in case Wife #1 came along for spot-checks while the men smoked, gambled or played cards. And as the tour guide narrated, of course Wife #1 knew the mistresses were hiding there, but she will take heart in the fact that her husband bothered to hide them (yes, plural), thus giving her “face”. Above all, it also showed that Wife #1 accorded the respect and stature she deserved and hence she will turn a blind-eye to the mistresses. Fuzzy logic that.

Most of the villagers seemed oblivious to the tourists and continued with their daily chores. Afterall, clothes had to be washed, and meals had to be cooked!

Ancient Hongcun villagers cleverly made use of the water flowing down from the mountains and diverted them through a network of canals around the whole village before washing out to the river. Most of the village houses also have in-built ponds where fresh water is diverted in and flows out through another opening.

While we were there, we witnessed someone washing their clothes upstream (with laundry soap), and someone else washing a chicken downstream along the canals. And they also brush their teeth or wash vegetables there too!

In any case, we stayed a night and made it out alive ;-)

Early next day, we set out to climb Yellow mountain.

For a write-up on Hongcun’s history, check here:

http://www.chinahighlights.com/huangshan/attraction/hongcun-village.htm