Qiankou Folk Residence

 

 

Shexian County, anciently called Huizhou, is a historical and cultural town. The way from Huangshan Mountain to Shexian County is thought to be the long corridor of ancient architecture. Qiankou folk residence is the typical example of the architectures in this area. There is saying goes like this: go to Beijing for appreciating the Royal Palace and Qiankou for folk residence. Walking around the Qiankou folk residences, the ancient Huizhou in the past five hundred years is mostly shown.

Qiankou folk residence is located at the foot of Zixia peak, so it is also called Zixiashanzhuang. It is the state-level protection site of cultural relics. The total area of this residence is 16000 square meters. The local government took the measures to accumulate 10 typical architectures of the Ming dynasty around this area. These ten architectures are respectively Yinxiu Bridge, Stone Memorial Archway, Shanhua Pavilion, Leshan Hall, Caomen Hall, Fang Guantian Residence and so on.

Yinxiu Bridge was established in 1554, and it was established with the help of a nun. On the both sides of bridg, there are a nun monastery and a village. The name inscription of this bridge in half is Yin carving and Yang carving in another half. Hence it is also called Yin-Yang Bridge. Stone Memorial Archway was established in Ming Dynasty. The frontispiece of this archway is not carved except an impressive “ghost”. The back of the archway there is a picture of moon palace and cherry-bay trees. Shanhua Pavilion was established in 1551. Fang Wentai Residence is a brick-wood folk residence in the time of mid and later Ming dynasty. All of these residences or architectures are strongly featured by the local complex customs and many missing traditions. The traveling to these places could take people back to the past.