Blast from the past: The cultural villages of Hongcun & Xidi

Huangshan

Anhui Province, China

November 2005

In November of 2005, I taught English at a traditional Chinese medicine college in Wuhu, Anhui province. Anhui is one of the poorest and most rural provinces in China. During my 4 month stay, I took every opportunity to explore the city and the rest of the province. Anhui has a couple of must-see historical attractions for which it is famous in China. These include Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) and the cultural villages of Hongcun and Xidi. I took the bus to Huangshan and booked a cultural tour that took me to the towns of Hongcun and Xidi.

Hongcun - Art students flock here to paint the scenery

Anhui province

Anhui is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China located in the eastern region of the country. It’s located across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River. The provincial capital is Hefei. The name "Anhui" derives from the names of two cities: Anqing and Huizhou (now Huangshan City).  The province of Anhui was formed in the 17th century. Before then, there was no coherent concept of "Anhui". In terms of culture, Northern Anhui was firmly a part of the North China Plain together with modern-day Henan province, northern Jiangsu and southern Shandong provinces. 

Central Anhui was densely populated and constituted mostly of fertile land from the Huai River watershed. In contrast, the culture of Southern Anhui, bordered mostly along the Yangtze, was closer to Jiangxi and southern Jiangsu provinces. The hills of south-eastern Anhui formed a unique and distinct cultural sphere of its own. In the 2007 book China Road, author Rob Gifford stated that the Chinese refer to Anhui as a "big agricultural province". According to Gifford, this is a euphemism for a "very poor" area and that people have referred to Anhui as the "Appalachia of China" (Wikipedia).

Hongcun

Hongcun is a village in Anhui Province, People's Republic of China, near the southwest slope of Mount Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). The architecture and carvings of the approximately 150 residences date back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Together with Xidi, the village became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 (Wikipedia).

Hongcun - Artists & tourists admiring the beautiful composition

Artist painting street scene - Hongcun 

Hongcun - Art students from all over China, come to paint the scenery

Xidi

Xidi (literally West Post), is a village in southern Anhui province, which was declared a part of the "Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui" World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000, along with the village of Hongcun. First built during the Huangyou era (1049–1053) of Song Dynasty Emperor Renzong, the village was originally called Xichuan (West River), owing to the various watercourses flowing through it.

The rise of the village was closely tied to the fortunes of the Hu family. By 1465 CE, during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), family members had started in business as merchants, leading to the construction of major private buildings and public infrastructure. By the middle of the 17th century, the influence wielded by members of the Hu family expanded from commerce into politics. The prosperity of Xidi peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries, at which time the village comprised about 600 residences. 

Street scene - Xidi

Entrance to Xidi across the waterway

Xidi alleys

Local woman doing her washing in Xidi, the old-fashioned way

Huangshan

Huangshan is a mountain range in southern Anhui province in eastern China. Vegetation on the range is thickest below 1,100 meters, with trees growing up to the treeline at 1,800 meters. The area is well known for its scenery, sunsets, peculiarly-shaped granite peaks, Huangshan pine trees, hot springs, winter snow, and views of the clouds from above. Huangshan is a frequent subject of traditional Chinese paintings and literature, as well as modern photography. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of China's major tourist destinations (Wikipedia).

Clearwater stream at the foot of the mountain

Huangshan mountain scenery

Huangshan mountain scenery

Huangshan mountain scenery

I spent a day at the cultural villages and an afternoon exploring at Huangshan, before I returned home to Wuhu.