Zhangguying ancient village

--Zhangguying village has been known as "the first village in the world" for more than 500 years because of its large scale, unique architectural style and beautiful architectural art.

--The village got its name from the construction of Zhang Guying's elder sister. After many times of construction in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are still well preserved traditional residential buildings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

--The biggest feature of Zhangguying village is that "every family is connected, and every household is connected". The connected architectural form and the design concept of the central axis are known as the "folk Forbidden City".

Zhangguying ancient village

Zhangguying ancient village, located at the foot of Weidong Bijia mountain to the east of Yueyang, Hunan Province, is located at the intersection of Yueyang, Pingjiang and Miluo. It is about 150 km and 70 km away from Changsha and Yueyang respectively. It is the most complete preserved ancient residential building community in South China. It has existed for more than 500 years. On June 25, 2001, it was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit, and in 2003, it was rated as a famous historical and cultural village in China.

Introduction to scenic spots

At the foot of Bijia mountain, about 70 kilometers to the east of Yueyang City, there is a mysterious ancient folk village, Zhangguying village. What makes this ancient folk architecture complex of Ming and Qing Dynasties in remote mountainous area unique? It has aroused my desire to visit. After driving for about half an hour from the Beijing Zhuhai expressway or the Yueyang County section of national highway 107 to the East, the car enters dadun'ao, the entrance of Zhangguying's territory. Looking at each other through the window, it suddenly opens up in front of you. Here you can see the branches of Mufu mountain stretching for 500 Li. There are four big mountains in the southeast, northwest and North. In the middle of them looms a large pangran house stretching for several Li, and the roof is connected with each other This is the famous "ancient buildings, the first village in the world" - Zhangguying ancient village.

Ancient village style

Zhangguying ancient village is half moon shaped and distributed at the foot of the mountain, with the main house as the gate and the back of the Castle Peak. The Weixi River in front of the gate has become a natural river to protect the village. There is a picture of Tai Chi on the lintel of the gate, which means to protect the peace and wealth of the whole nation. There are two big ponds on the ping in the gate, which are on the left and right. They symbolize the two eyes of the dragon, which are used for fire prevention and strong observation. The Weixi River in the yard twists and turns, passing through the village. There are 47 stone bridges on the river. The walls of the buildings are connected with sandalwood, and the difference is on the stream, forming a pattern of "the stream flows down the steps, and the door opens towards the water". Beside the stream, there is a long corridor, which is paved with bluestone slabs. Along the way, it can reach all the gateways and connect all the roadways. On both sides of the roadways, there are blue brick walls, which are more than 10 meters high. The wall is high and thick, suitable for fire prevention, known as the wind fire wall. There are a total of 60 roadways like this in the big house yard. They crisscross and extend in all directions. The longest roadway is 153 meters. All the roadways together, the total length is 1459 meters. Residents living here can "keep the eyes off the sun, and keep their shoes dry when it rains or snows.". Inside the eaves, the round beams and columns are engraved with Tai Chi pictures, and the delicate deer is carved under the house. Most of the windows, walls and screens are inlaid with carved boards, and the designs are vivid, such as magpie, plum blossom and mengzeng. Zhangguying ancient village has three relatively complete courtyards, namely "shangxinceng", "Shimen" and "Panjiachong". The three courtyards are set in the East, West and south directions respectively. The main courtyard has high walls and thick eaves, and the enclosed houses have different layers. They form their own systems and are integrated. The total construction area is 10800 square meters. Each courtyard with different specifications and connections is composed of four entrances, namely, the hall of passage, the hall of meeting, the ancestral hall, and the back hall, as well as three patios formed with the wing room and the ear room.

History and culture

Dawu people have been studying for generations, and they have formed their own unique culture of farming and reading. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were 45 scholars, 33 Tai students, 6 Gongsheng, 1 Gongyuan, 7 Ju, 1 Jinshi, and 1 Zhongxian official. Among them, the brothers were on the tiger list, and there were many people who won the Wen Kui by their grandparents and grandchildren. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, there have been more than 300 talents. According to statistics in 2001, there are more than 300 college and secondary school students, including one postdoctoral and doctoral supervisor studying in the UK, one doctor studying in the United States, more than 10 experts and professors, and many politicians at or above the county level.

It is still a mystery about Zhang Guying's life experience. According to the tombstone records of later generations, Zhang Guying was born from Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty to the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (1335) and died in the fifth year of Yongle of Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty (1407). According to the genealogy, Zhang Guying was originally from Jiangxi, once served as the commander of the Ming Dynasty (equivalent to the commander of the current military region), and entered Chu from Wu during the Hongwu Period of the Ming Dynasty. He traveled westward along Mufu mountain and retired to the foot of Weidong Bijia mountain in Yueyang County It has a plan handed down from generation to generation. He arranged a genealogy that can be passed on to the descendants of 34 generations: "Wendan has Zhongzhi, whose achievements are superior to Zongxing's, and his successor, Shixu Changtong, Yongzhen's calligraphy, Fu zedun's reverence, famous for hundreds of generations, and Guanglong's position.". The deep essence of Confucianism and its inspiration and expectation for later generations can be seen from the genealogy. As time went by, the Zhang family grew larger and larger, so they were named Zhang Guying.

Over the past five or six hundred years, Zhangguying people have lived here for 25 generations, forming a hehe family with more than ten thousand descendants of single surname. The house has more than 2200 people, becoming a natural village. The rest of them live in all parts of the country. In the village, there are more than 650 farmers, old and young, who are sincere and righteous; men and women, old and young, are in order, leading a peaceful and peaceful idyllic life. At present, there are 51000 square meters of ancient buildings, 206 patios, 237 halls and 1732 houses.

Big house design

The overall design of Zhang Guying's big house embodies the important philosophy of "harmony between man and nature" in traditional Chinese culture. The site of Dawu is surrounded by mountains on all sides and lies on Longxing mountain in the north, which is the gathering place of the so-called "dragon veins" in Fengshui. The big house building is a model of building by the mountain and by the water and making the house according to the place. As I discussed with him about folk houses and geomantic omen, I walked to the village. I marvel at how the people in this village live in peace with the world. The big house is as quiet and beautiful as an ancient castle, just like a labyrinth covering this magical land. The villagers have a peaceful and comfortable smile on their faces, just like the river in front of the house, flowing peacefully. The sun rises and the sun sets. There is no smoke of war and no secular disputes. For five or six hundred years, people have lived the idyllic life that philosophers yearn for and lived according to their own life path. The whole Zhangguying ancient village is composed of more than ten gateheads, such as Dangdamen, dongtouan, xitouan, Julongwan, Shimen, wangjiayu, shangxinwu, Changsha Yu, fengshuwu, xiaxinwu, hefengyu, Panjiachong, etc., forming a huge single family residential complex. The complex is not only a compact whole, but also has different architectural styles of Ming and Qing Dynasties. Each building has strict gate, high wall, square brick floor, green tile roof, cross hall, and laneway. What's more, I was surprised by the magnificent architecture, unique planning and ingenious design. From a distant view, the eaves and corridors are connected, and the pavilions are uneven; from a close view, the patio is connected, and the compound roads are vertical and horizontal. Its layout, the seclusion of the roadway, the mystery of the courtyard, the beauty of carving and painting, and the God of materials can be called five unique. The coordination of ventilation and passage is unique, and the wonder of lighting and drainage is amazing. Each independent room has roughly the same structure. The main hall house and the horizontal hall house are composed of several units. Each unit is composed of a patio, a semi open hall house and enclosed wing rooms on both sides. There are screen doors, veranda and laneways in the middle. It can be divided into its own courtyard, and it can be combined into a whole. When you walk through it, it will not expose the sun in sunny days, and it will not wet your shoes in rainy days. The main hall house and the wing rooms on both sides are used by the elders, while the side hall house is occupied by each small family of the younger generation.

Indoor and outdoor windows, door beams, screen doors, etc. are decorated with traditional Chinese wood and stone carving techniques. Some of them are old objects from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. They are still in good condition after years of wind and frost. Many folk legends are carved in the wood and stone carvings of the buildings, with simple strokes, clear lines and vivid images. For example, Shungeng and Lishan on the archway, hanging horns to attack books; erlongxizhu on the beam, shuangfengchaoyang; Eight Immortals crossing the sea on the screen door, sirang exploring his mother; Magpie plum blossom, bat (Fu) and Songhe (Shou) on the window; carp jumping from the dragon's gate and Qilin sending their children on the platform; Fulu Shouxi on the stone surface of the patio, etc., are skillful and vivid. Among them, when the gate meets the hall next to the official hall, the painting of eight steeds is the most impressive, which can be regarded as the representative work of wood and stone carving, and has a high artistic value. The eight horses in the picture are fat, strong and lifelike. They either hiss, play with each other, or gallop with their heads held high. It shows the peaceful and prosperous times of Ma Fang Nanshan and the vigorous vitality and prosperity of this big family.

All the buildings are connected by deep roadways and corridors. The unique 62 roadways are tortuous, extending in all directions, connecting every household. The longest roadways are 153 meters long, with a total length of 1495 meters, connecting the whole house and yard, and almost every household in the village can be visited without going out of the gate. In addition, the roadway has become a number of fire isolation zones. In case of fire, people can directly climb up to the roof and uncover the tiles in the 80 cm wide roadway with their hands to cut off the fire source, so as to avoid the spread of fire. Before liberation, the main hall house of Shimen gate was on fire and burned down. Fortunately, the two sides of the roadway were separated, so that the adjacent houses survived.

The light coming down directly from the patio produces an inexplicable mysterious effect, which makes everything here more primitive, simple, elegant and quiet. There are 206 large and small patios in the big house, 22 square meters for the big one and 2 square meters for the small one

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Gu Ying Gu Cun