Old Villages in Huangshan - Hongcun (宏村) and Xidi (西递)

Besides Huangshan the mountain, there are two other UNESCO World Heritage Sites in southern Anhui province.  The first is Hongcun and the other is Xidi.  Most tourists who came to Huangshan never thought of visiting these two ancient villages.  I never heard of it.  But my travel consultant put this on the itinerary.  Luckily, I have an excellent guide who has lived in the area for many years.

Hongcun

If you saw the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you may recognize some of the scenes in Hongcun village.  Not only was it an excellent movie (it was nominated for 10 Oscars and won 4) the scenes accurately depicted the architecture of the 18th century.  Hongcun was established in 1131 by Wang Wen, a general, then a prosperous merchant.  It's been preserved for a thousand years and today many of the residences still have people living in them.

The village is arranged in the shape of an ox. with different parts of the village representing parts of the ox.  Today it's a popular tourist attraction.  Many of the residences cater to the tourists - restaurants, souvenir shops,  The pictures below tell the story of the village.

The letter Fu, meaning Blessing

Xidi 

Near Hongcun is another 1,000-year old village that has been well preserved.  It was first built from 1049 to 1053 during the Song Dynasty.  The Hu family are descendants of the Emperor and later as successful merchants in the Ming Dynasty.  The city is dominated by a main street that runs east to west.  This is joined by many alleyways.  The streets are paved with granite from the area.  The village tells a rich history of China.

On the right is the name of the town, Xi Di

A Farmhouse

Our last stop for the day is called Tunxi Old Street.  Below is a picture of the entrance to the Old Street.  Inside is a main street with shops that selling various things like tea, Chinese pastry, souvenirs, etc.  "Old Streets" are common in almost every town in China.  Instead of tearing down old buildings the town would preserve a section and call it "Old Street" representing what it was like many years ago.  It's a way to attract tourists.