Ancestral Houses of Hu's, the Anhui Businessmen Family

Longchuan Village (龙川古镇) has been a place of residence for Hu's family (胡氏祖居, Hu Shi Zu Ju) for over 1,600 years. It now descends to the 48th generation. Hu's talents come forth in large numbers and Longchuan has traditionally been a scholar village. Learners had attained very high grades in imperial examinations in the past. During its best times, Hu's family had three governors of Chinese areas in their ruling terms simultaneously. In Jiangsu, neighboring to Anhui Province, Hu Yuan Tai (胡源泰) Tea Shop has always been famous in the three "Tai's" – Taizhou, Taixing and Taixian (泰州, 泰兴, 泰县), established by Hu Yongyuan and painstakingly run for the next three generations. It has great contributions to Anhui's culture and economy.

According to the genealogy of the Hu's family, the Chinese characters of metal, wood, water, fire and earth (jin, mu, shui, huo and tu), that are the five basic elements on our planet, to form parts the names of family members. They give birth to each other, that is, jin gives birth to mu, mu to shui, and shui to huo and so on. For example, Jin (锦) includes the character "金" (metal or gold) and Bing (炳) includes "火" (fire).

Yishi Arch (奕世尚书坊, Yi Shi Shang Shu Fang) was built for Ministry of Civil Affairs Chancery Hu Fu and Hu Zongxian, Military Chancery in 41st year reign of Ming's Jiajing Emperor (in 1562 AD). It is an elite work in Anhui-style stone carving in history and in 1986, it became a cultural relic for protection of provincial level.

Duxian Arch (都宪坊, Du Xian Fang) was built Hu Zongming, who had been governor of Shandong Province.