Guanlu Village

Guanlu is 2 kilometers west of Nanping. It is located at the foot of Wuting mountain and the foot of xiwuling mountain. Because xiwuling mountain is known as "Xiwu Xiongguan", the village is located at the east foot of Xiongguan, so it gets its name. In the ancient village, there are many ancient buildings. It reveals some desolation, but maybe it is this desolation that makes it more real and memorable.

Guanlu's "eight big families" are built in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, facing the south. There are mainly 20 houses, such as wutingshan house and chunmanting house. In a big family, eight brothers build houses in the village. Each family has its own family, but they are connected. Each ancient house has its own patio, hall, garden and courtyard, but there are portals above and below the house, and the corridors connect with each other to form a whole. Most of the names of ancient houses are related to calligraphy, reflecting the characteristics of Hui merchants as well as merchants and Confucians.

The old houses in the village all have exquisite and beautiful wood carvings and typical Huizhou furnishings, but some of the faces on the wood carvings have been damaged, but the lingering charm is still there, so it's worth visiting.

Guanlu Village

Guanlu village is under the jurisdiction of Biyang Town, Yi County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province. It is located at the foot of Wuting mountain and the foot of xiwuling mountain. It is named because xiwuling mountain is known as "xiwuxiongguan" and it lives at the east foot of Xiongguan.

In the past, the main ancient post road from Yi county to Qimen, Anqing, Jiangxi and other places passed through cunling, so it was also called "Guanlu". It is also called "qianxia" in ancient times. The terrain is very hidden, and the village can be built here to avoid the invasion of war. It is commonly known as "guanluxia".

On February 27, 2020, Guanlu village was selected as the second batch of beautiful rural demonstration villages in Anhui Province in 2019.

Historical evolution

The environment of Guanlu village is elegant. There is a stream in front of the village. The clear spring comes from the foot of Wuting mountain, so it is named Wushui. There is an artificial pond at the entrance of the village, covering an area of 3000 square meters, which looks like a crescent moon and is called moon pond. Guanlu village was built in the Five Dynasties and later Tang Dynasty. It has a history of more than 1000 years. It is a village mainly inhabited by Wang family. According to Guanlu Wang's genealogy, Guanlu's ancestor is Wang Zhenmei, a descendant of Wang Shuang, the seventh son of Wang Hua, the Duke of Yue. Since the Tang, song, yuan and Ming Dynasties, Guanlu village has not changed much. In the early Qing Dynasty, Guanlu was only a small village in Huaiyuan township (now Xiwu township) of Yi county. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was Wang Zhaohe, who lived with eight sons. In order, they were Lingluan, lingduo, lingyao, Lingyu, Lingcha, Lingzhong, Linglu (L ù), lingyao, which were the eight families of Guanlu, and Zhaogong was the ancestor of the eight families. They all lived in the old house in the early spring, and later mostly went out to do business. They buy local products in Qianshan, Taihu Lake, Shipai, Huangmei and other places, then sell them in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and then buy daily commodities to sell in these places. In this way, both sides make money and their business is booming.

Ticket price: 18 yuan

Cultural details

In Guanlu village, there are many buildings that fully embody the characteristics of Hui merchants, merchants and Confucians. Entering the village is like entering a "Museum of ancient Chinese private school culture". Among the "eight families" alone, there are six house names related to calligraphy, such as "Anya bookstore", "Linxi bookstore", "Wenqu bookstore", "Shuanggui bookstore", "xuetangting", "xiaoshuzhai", etc. As the village elder said, "my Wang ancestors were both businessmen and Confucians; they made money and trained talents.". Because of this, villagers Wang Shu and Wang Lie became famous calligraphers and painters in Qing Dynasty; villagers Wang Shouchun founded the first western medicine hospital "Hanmei hospital" in ancient Huizhou area; villagers Wang Xizhi martyr became one of the earliest Communist Party members in Yi County, and also the founder of the underground party organization in Yi County.

Guanlu is a place where the descendants of Wang Hua, a famous official of the Tang Dynasty, live together. The village has been built for thousands of years. It is named tiantangsai because it is located at the foot of Wuting mountain and the east foot of xiwuling mountain, which is known as "Xiwu Xiongguan". In the past, the main official post road from Shexian county to Qimen, Anqing, Jiangxi and other places passed through the village, so it is also called "official road".

The characteristic of Guanlu is that its main building is the "eight families" residential complex of Wang's eight brothers. It has been built for more than 200 years since Shunzhi of Qing Dynasty. There are 16 buildings, 2 quadrangle houses, 1 school hall and 1 study, covering an area of about 6000 square meters. "Eight big houses" is not just "eight big rooms". It is a typical series of Huizhou ancient residential buildings with reasonable layout, smart design and exquisite architecture. Each unit series has its own style of main house, side hall, kitchen and courtyard. You can see that each unit is connected with each other. If you want to go up and down the stairs, there will be portals connected in series, so that the "eight families" form a whole. Its unique structure is extremely rare among Huizhou ancient people. It is not to say that outsiders entering the "home" are like entering a labyrinth. Even those who grow up in the "home" seldom know exactly the whole structure. So when you walk into every "home" in Guanlu village, you can't tell the difference between the superior and the inferior, the East, the west, the north and the South; they are integrated and each has its own merits. It's not enough to see them again, and you want to come here many times to savor them.

"Four wonders" of Guanlu

In addition to the unique style of ancient buildings, there are also three unique styles: "rice sculpture", "brick carving" and "submarine wood", which together with "conjoined ancient buildings" are called "four unique styles of Guanlu". "Rice sculpture" is a unique folk craft in the village. It is processed and molded into "bonsai", such as flower bottles, Arhats, fruits, etc., for sacrificial purposes. "Brick sculpture" is located on the door cover of the fourth Wang Lingyu's residence in the "eight families", which is divided into seven layers. The "Xiaokang family" works on the fifth floor are the most exquisite, with pavilions, figures and flowers in it, It is said that it has a history of more than 100 years, and the wood is exquisite, which is made of extremely precious superior wood. It feels cold when you touch it. Sitting on it in midsummer, the heat disappears. No wonder it is known as "seafloor wood".

tourist guide

The transportation is about 8 kilometers from Yi county to Guanlu. There are private buses to the destination. The price is between 2 yuan and 3 yuan. About 15-20 yuan by taxi.

Self driving time: 4 hours and 30 minutes

Self driving route: Hefei - he'an Expressway - Jingtai Expressway - chaozhaixi / Hongcun / Xidi direction - s103-s218-s029 - Guanlu.

In 2010, it was awarded the honorary title of the fifth batch of "famous historical and cultural villages in China" by the Ministry of housing and urban rural development and the State Administration of cultural relics.

Eight family scenic areas

In the 1990s, due to the radiation effect of Huangshan Mountain, the tourism industry of Guyi has been rejuvenated, and Xidi, Hongcun, Nanping and other tourist attractions have been developed and opened one after another. As a typical representative of the formation of ancient villages in southern Anhui, Guanlu was included in China tourism information database by the National Tourism Administration in October 1992, which attracted more and more visitors. In particular, more than a dozen experts and professors from the school of architecture of Tsinghua University in Beijing were not only impressed by the exquisite brick, stone and wood carvings in Guanlu folk houses, but also marveled at the location and layout of the village. They drew a detailed distribution map of the ancient dwellings in Guanlu village, and then went up to xiwuling mountain to look down on Wuting mountain. They were surprised to find that the remaining veins of the foothills were like a giant dragon winding down to the back of the village, presenting a "Jiulong Xizhu" trend with the ancient dwellings in the village! They excitedly wrote in the message book: "the ancient house in Guanlu village is very valuable and has been preserved completely, which is rare in the whole country. Although it is a pity that the ancestral temple has been destroyed, the village has not been damaged as a whole, and the future of the village is promising. At least the value is not below Xidi, or even more than Xidi. It is hoped that the local people and government will attach importance to the village, protect it strictly and make detailed planning so as to make it an important cultural tourist spot in the future. Guanlu is located at the foot of Wuting mountain and xiwuling mountain in the southwest of Yi County, 7 kilometers away from the county. Xiwuling is known as "Xiwu Xiongguan" and its village is located at the east foot of Xiongguan. It is also called "Guanlu" because there is an ancient post road which is seven Li up and eight Li down next to the village, leading to Qimen, Anqing, Jiangxi and other places. It is also called "qianxia" in ancient times because the terrain is very hidden. Building a village here can avoid the invasion of war, so it is commonly known as "Guanlu Xia".

At the foot of Wuting mountain, 7km west of Yi County, there is an ancient village at Guanlu. The village has a series of ancient buildings with white walls and green tiles. Among them, the most striking eight buildings are known as "Guanlu eight houses". These eight ancient houses, built in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, are the houses of eight brothers of Wang's family. Each unit has its own courtyard, hall, garden and courtyard, but they are connected with each other. There are portals above and below the house to form a whole.

The eight ancient residences of Wang's descendants are led by wutingshanju, the former residence of Wang Shu, a famous calligrapher and painter in the Qing Dynasty. From north to west, they are hanyuanlou, wuaiwulu, shuzhai, chunmanting, Shuanggui, menqu, Anya and Rongxi Yian. The interior decoration is exquisite, carved beams and painted buildings, painted with color and gold. The design is exquisite, rich and elegant. Although it has lasted for hundreds of years, it is still very fresh. Every household has its own iron gate and lotus gate. In the corridor connecting the two rooms, the door is very narrow, but there is a spacious toilet in the middle of the corridor. Among the eight Guanlu families, there is also a Wang ancestral hall, Chongde hall, which is well preserved. Some of the original cloisters and wooden pavilions among the eight families have been destroyed, but the lingering charm still exists.

There are different opinions on the design intention of the "eight masters" ancient dwellings. Some say it's because of HuiGao's and Shang's thrifty habit of running a family, which combines the eight houses into one, so as to save the house wall and foundation. Some people think that,

Chinese PinYin : Guan Lu Cun