Li's courtyard

Li's courtyard

Li's courtyard was used by Li Zi, the richest man in southern Shanxi from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. Founded in the reign of Daoguang in Qing Dynasty, it is located in Yanjing village, Wanrong county. Together with Qiao's courtyard and Wang's courtyard, it is known as "Shanxi Merchants' sandilian". It is said that "Qiao's family sees fame, Wang's family sees courtyard and Li's family sees goodness". The whole building is a shaft style courtyard in Shanxi Province, which absorbs Hui style architectural style. Because Li ziyong studied in England, some of the courtyards are "Gothic" buildings. It is a compound of North and south, a combination of Chinese and western, and an unparalleled courtyard of Shanxi merchants. It condenses the profound foundation of Han traditional culture and has high cultural and artistic value.

Lijia courtyard scenic spot is 38 kilometers away from Yuncheng City. It is a national AAAA scenic spot and a national key cultural relic protection unit. There are 20 original courtyards and 280 houses, and 11 existing courtyards and 146 houses. Li's courtyard (Hedong folk custom museum) and Wanrong joke Expo Park cover an area of nearly 1000 mu, with a construction area of 100000 square meters.

Its grand scale, simple and elegant, ingenious design, exudes the spirit, temperament and charm of traditional Chinese culture.

In February 2020, in honor of the majority of medical workers, from the end of the epidemic to December 31, 2020, the scenic area of Lijia compound will be open to medical workers all over the country for free.

Courtyard pattern

Lijia courtyard scenic spot is located in Yanjing village, Wanrong County, 38 kilometers north of Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province. Walking into the Li's courtyard, you can find the traditional houses of the Han nationality which are well arranged and antique, the old streets with high green brick walls, and the old alleys and alleys full of bricks, wood, stone carvings, calligraphy, paintings, and steles.

Layout of scenic spots

Li's courtyard was founded in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty, 200 years ago. There are 20 groups of original courtyard, 11 groups of existing courtyard, ancestral hall, garden and so on. The scenic area covers an area of nearly 1000 mu, with a construction area of more than 100000 square meters. It is composed of five parts: ancient building area, antique area, new area, service area and agricultural ecological park.

Integral structure

The main building is a courtyard of shaft type, which absorbs the Hui Style and integrates the two architectural features of North and South China. The ancient courtyards are arranged in an orderly way with distinct layers, large in size and rich in materials, rigorous in structure and transparent in ventilation.

Courtyard features

The traditional courtyard houses the wind and gather the air, and the exquisite big house door is connected to the earth and the sky. The brick carvings, stone carvings, wood carvings, iron art and other ornaments of the Li's courtyard have auspicious meanings, such as many children and many blessings, three stars and high lights, five blessings near the gate, pine and crane extending the year, and farming and reading the descendants, reflecting the Han folk customs, folk customs and cultural characteristics of southern Shanxi. Li Daoxing (Li ziyong), the owner of the West courtyard, once studied in England and married a British woman, mctilen. Some of the courtyards are in the European "Gothic" architectural style, which shows the artistic characteristics of cultural exchange and integration between China and the west, and is the only example of the local characteristic houses of the Han nationality.

architectural art

Architectural art is distributed in many important parts of the old people's courtyard of the Li family. The "Three Sculptures" of brick, wood and stone with decorative and practical functions, as well as color painting and iron art, include celebrity anecdotes, literary works, drama libretto, religious myths, customs and social life, etc.

carving

Most of the stone carvings are decorated on the foundation of the house, mainly the pillar stone, in addition to the Jiamen stone and the gate lion. Woodcarving ornaments are mainly distributed in the structural parts of the house, such as beams, purlins, melon columns, bucket arches and other main structures and components such as braces, overhanging heads, beam mats, sparrows and so on, as well as the wood carvings on the ceiling, bucket fans, doors and windows that constitute the veranda space. The exposed parts of wood structure, such as eaves and door covers, are painted with smooth and delicate colors. Brick carvings are mainly decorated on the eight character or one character shadow wall outside the wooden door, as well as the wooden door cover, eaves rafters, architraves, brackets, plaques and drooping lotus pillars. The brick carvings in the courtyard are generally distributed in the long head, gables, walls on both sides of the main hall, courtyard walls on both sides of the second door, flower walls in the garden, etc. their exquisite carving skills and immortal artistic value fully reflect the outstanding talents and artistic creativity of the ancient Han working people.

decorate

The architectural decoration art of Li's courtyard is directly or indirectly based on the common animals and plants, utensils and utensils in nature and civilian life. These decorative arts can be divided into characters, such as Fu Lu Shou San Xing Gao Zhao, Ba Xian Zhu Shou, Yu Qiao Geng Du, etc., auspicious birds and auspicious animals, such as bats representing Fu, he Lu Tong Chun, Yu Yue long men, etc., plants, such as peony Fu Gui, song Zhu Mei, etc., characters, such as Fu Shou inscriptions on the external walls of private schools, geometric patterns, such as plate long pattern, silver ingot pattern, turtle back pattern, ten thousand character head, etc., and utensils combination, such as Bo Gu Tu, etc . Through the creation of skillful craftsmen, these concrete things permeate the Han folk customs, folk customs and cultural psychology in southern Shanxi.

The rise and fall of the family

The development of Li's family is a microcosm of modern Chinese Economic History: after Li's family moved to Yanjing, they took traditional agriculture as the foundation of their family, gradually entered the field of Commerce and trade, and then invested in modern industry, so that they changed from agriculture to commerce, and then to national capitalists. Li family started with local cloth, controlled profit with righteousness, combined benefit with righteousness, and generations of "rich but not arrogant, rich but not extravagant, rich but benevolent". The business history of the Li family, the family tradition of following the ancient "loyalty and forgiveness" and the charitable deeds of the past generations are still of referential significance.

From agriculture to commerce

After Li Yongshan, the eighth generation of the Li family, moved to Yanjing village, he inherited the farming legacy of his ancestors and concurrently engaged in small handicraft industry. After several generations of hard work, the family gradually became rich, laying the foundation for future business. Li Wenbing, a descendant of the 13th generation, was born in the 10th year of Jiaqing period in the Qing Dynasty (1805 AD). Li tinghuai, the father of Li Wenbing, had four brothers. Because Li Tinggui, the eldest, had no son, Li Wenbing was adopted to his uncle Li Tinggui as soon as he was born.

Li Wenbing, a tiger minister, was born in the Qing Dynasty. He was smart and business minded since he was a child. He didn't want to work in agriculture but was interested in business. In the first year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1821 AD), Li Wenbing, who was only 16 years old, began to abandon agriculture and engage in business. He made a living by selling local cloth at fairs, often carrying cloth bags on his shoulders and Hawking through the streets. As time went on, Li Wenbing realized that it was easy to survive and difficult to develop by setting up a stall and selling cloth. In 1823, he learned that Jingbian, Anbian, Dingbian and other places could not grow cotton because of poor land and cold climate. The price of local cloth soared and the return trip made a lot of profits. He used his savings to buy local cloth in Wanquan area, organized the caravan to sell to the "three sides", and at the same time, he sold leather goods and medicinal materials from the northwest back to the mainland, which was called "bianke" by the local people ”。 Li Wenbing's horse Gang ferried across the river from yumendu, crossing mountains and mountains for more than 1000 kilometers, making a round trip several times a year, and sometimes encountering bandits' robbery. Because he paid attention to honesty, his business expanded smoothly and gradually accumulated the original capital for expanding operation. Li Wenbing was determined to change his status as a middleman and set up shops on the "three sides" to occupy the whole business channel. In 1827, Li Wenbing set up a shop in ningtiaoliang Town, Dingbian county. He changed the purchase channel of scattered purchase from southern Shanxi to set up a village in Yuzhou, Henan Province and Zaoyang, Hubei Province to purchase local cloth in batches. He also bought tea, medicinal materials and groceries for sale in the "three sides" area. The horse Gang carried back leather goods and medicinal materials for sale.

Strengthen management

Li Wenbing's practice of walking on three sides alone does not adapt to the trend of business prosperity. Therefore, while setting up shops, he also let his two younger brothers Li Wenjie and Li Wenwei join the business of the Li family. This is the traditional practice of the family, which has been inherited at the most prosperous time. In 1830, Li Wenbing thought about change again and decided to run the business separately from his two younger brothers. He gave his two younger brothers a relatively good shop to run, but he was in debt and took over the business that was not easy to run. This time is another new starting point of the Li family's business road. After three years of business struggle, Li Wenjie and Li Wenwei's business talent has been revealed. After the diversion, Li Wenbing took away the Li family's bad assets, and his business has been in a slump ever since.

International Trade

After the separation, Li Wenbing established "tongshuncheng" and "tongshunxing" business houses in Yanjing village, and Li Wenjie and Li Wenwei brothers established "jingxinyi" business houses in Yanjing village. Soon after, the brothers Li Wenjie and Li Wenwei set up the "jingxinyi" semicolon near the Guandi temple in Jiezhou, dealing in salt, pickles, tea, wine, cakes, medicinal materials, leather goods, silk, cloth, daily necessities, etc. After 1852, the business of "jingxinyi" business continued to expand, and the branch gradually developed westward to Xi'an, Pingliang, Lanzhou, Xining and Yinchuan. At the same time, the "jingxinyi" business is a joint-stock company. According to the company's regulations, dividends will be settled once every three years. The total amount of shares and "God of wealth shares" will be deducted from the total income of the three years. The surplus will be distributed to shareholders and human capital shares according to the number of shares. Take the dead points live value (that is, the owner's shares are dead, human shares are live), generally divided into four or six, six shareholders, four human shares. The human capital stock is at most one share (Manager) and at least one percent (apprentice with three years' experience). Because of the addition of human capital stock, the shopkeepers of each business take the store as their home, and "jingxinyi" business has also become one of the famous business names of Shanxi Merchants.

During the ten years when the "jingxinyi" semicolon extended to the northwest, the Li family reached the highest level

Chinese PinYin : Li Jia Da Yuan