Yinyuan Villa

The "little potala palace" in Shanxi Province. The houses are neat, row upon row and well arranged

Yinyuan Villa

Yinyuan villa is located in Guangou village, Pingan Town, Yangquan City, Shanxi Province. It is a northern residential complex built by the local Zhang family for several generations, so Yinyuan villa is also called "Zhangjia courtyard" by the local people. Known as the "little potala palace" in Shanxi by outsiders. AAA tourist attractions.

geographical position

Yinyuan villa has been open to tourists since 2001. Its building is located in Guangou village, Pingping Town, the suburb of Yangquan City

Architectural style and introduction of Yinyuan villa:

Yinyuan villa has a total of 11 floors from bottom to top. The courtyard on it has the same architectural style as Beijing siheyuan.

The second floor is YangZheng primary school. There is also a secret passage inside. There is a vault at the door, where people or gold, silver and jewelry can be stored. The third floor is the siheyuan, the main courtyard is the former residence of Zhang Shilin, the memorial hall of Zhang's family name and the memorial hall of Zhang hengshou. Then go up to the small high-rise building to Guanyin spring.

Because the shape of Yinyuan villa is similar to the Potala Palace in Xinjiang, it has the reputation of "little potala palace in Shanxi".

Human history

The origin of Yinyuan villa the origin of the name "Yinyuan villa" can be traced back to the prosperity of Zhangjia courtyard. In the ninth year of the Republic of China, there was a severe drought in North China, and Pingding County ordered Guangou Zhangjia to prepare for the disaster relief in Xixiang (at that time, Yangquan Xixiang was subordinate to Pingding County). At that time, Zhang Shilin, the eighth generation of Zhang family, was in charge of household management. Zhang Shilin, in order to let the thousands of silver dollars of relief really be distributed to the victims, came up with a way to work for relief, and decided to pay for the renovation of the north and south slopes of the village. Because this is a disaster relief move, the wages of the strong are naturally not low, and the wages of the old and the young are also not small. Through the way of work relief, the relief funds are really distributed to the masses. After the settlement, each piece of stone on the north and south slopes is equivalent to one piece of ocean. People who lived through the famine were grateful for Zhang's kindness, so they called this slope "yinyuanpo" and "yinyuanshanzhuang" got its name.

Zhang Shilin, who was in charge of the disaster relief, whose distant ancestor was Zhang Wenxiu, who moved to Guangou from Yangquan Saiyu in Pingding Prefecture in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. After several generations of painstaking efforts, Zhangjia entered its heyday from Daoguang of Qing Dynasty to the early years of the Republic of China. In the most prosperous period, Zhangjia capital reached 300000 taels of silver, with shops all over the country. It can be said that Zhangjia is a rich family with a combination of business and agriculture. Later, due to neglect of management and improper employment, the business of Zhangjia declined. In the period of Zhang Shilin, the surname of Zhang in Guangou was revitalized for the last time. During this period, private schools were established, schools were set up, disaster victims were given relief, and mining rights were contested. After Zhang Shilin, Zhangjia no longer has a decent management talent, and Zhangjia is weakening step by step. The construction of Zhang Jia's house began in the middle of Qing Dynasty, which was shaped in the 1920s and 1930s. Later, due to frequent wars and the cultural revolution, Zhang Jia's house was damaged to a certain extent.

Since the beginning of the new century, the local government has made use of this magnificent homestead to develop tourism industry. With the continuous expansion of its influence, the maintenance and protection of the homestead has also been put on the agenda. Yinyuan villa is located in the West and faces the East. The building is built from high to low level, which is completely different from the architectural form of Jinzhong courtyard. In fact, in my opinion, this complex is more vivid and appropriate than "courtyard" as "Castle". The magic Yinyuan villa of shenzhailaoyuan is built on the cliff of tens of meters. It changes with the shape and curves according to the situation. Moreover, due to the limitation of the terrain, it is constructed layer by layer, with a total of ten floors. At that time, when a photographer suddenly found this building with the feeling of overlapping mountains, he found that it had a similar feeling in the Potala Palace in Tibet. In his works, he gave the title of "Potala Palace in Shanxi Province" to Zhang Jia's house. Later, this appellation was used and became the signboard language for the external publicity of Yinyuan villa.

The architecture of Zhang Jia's courtyard is peculiar, which stresses "generation up". Zhang's ancestral tomb was built at the top of the house, so it was said that people carried ghosts. This pattern is very rare. I don't know what to pay attention to. The most peculiar feature of Zhang Jia's courtyard, which is not found in other courtyards in the three Jin Dynasty, is the magical secret road built in the building. In the upper courtyard and lower room of the ten storey building in Zhangjia, and in the dark cave of the Ming kiln, there are not only open roads, but also dark roads. The secret passage is made of green bricks, so narrow that it can only pass through one person. Guided by the local people, I groped up the steps and came to a secret door, which was covered with a top plate. After the host called several times, someone opened the cover. We came out of the secret passage and found that we were standing in another family's kitchen.

My guide also jokingly asked me if I had the feeling of "tunnel warfare"! Local people say that people can walk up and down without going out of the gate. The dark roads crisscross the courtyard. On the surface, there are ordinary courtyards. Closing the gate becomes a solid castle. According to local people, Zhang Meilin, a martyr in Zhangjia, was hiding in a dark kiln where secret roads crisscrossed during the Anti Japanese War to escape the Japanese search. Waiting for visitors to lift the veil, through the dark to see a small and exquisite courtyard, wandering in the rugged streets of the villa, the huge villa seems a little lonely. We can't hear the hawkers and see the bustling tourists. Maybe it's because of the off-season. The quiet courtyard stands under the cliff. With the lonely atmosphere, Yinyuan villa looks so detailed and deep.

Zhangjiazhaiyuan has been developed into a tourist attraction. This once magical castle in the eyes of local people has also lifted its mysterious veil to tourists from all over the world. There are still some descendants of the surname Zhang living in the courtyard, and some exquisite buildings that visitors can't go in to visit. I think with the increasing number of tourists, the local tourism income will also continue to increase, and tourists will see more complete Yinyuan villa than today. As dusk slowly falls, smoke curls up above the house. One day, groups of tourists will break the tranquility of the villa with their feet, and the secret roads and deep houses of Yinyuan villa will become more and more well known.

Address: Guangou village, Pingping Town, suburb of Yangquan City, Shanxi Province

Longitude: 113.49465

Latitude: 37.88694

Chinese PinYin : Yin Yuan Shan Zhuang