Hongcun

Yi County

A provincial-level historic and cultural city on a par with Shexian. The county has well-preserved Huizhou-style traditional residential villages, long celebrated as a treasure trove of ancient Eastern architectural art. Yi County enjoys distinct four seasons and charming pastoral scenery. Tao Yuanming visited here and wrote the immortal essay “Record of the Peach Blossom Spring,” and Li Bai wrote a poem praising it: “Yi County is a small Peach Blossom Spring, wreathed in mist and rosy clouds for a hundred li. Its land abounds in magical herbs and trees, and its people still favour ancient attire.”

Jixi

A provincial-level historic and cultural city in Anhui, with many historic and cultural villages. Jixi has long been known for the saying “a small county with many notable figures,” and it has produced many prominent figures in Chinese history. It is the hometown of Hu Shih, a leader of the May Fourth New Culture Movement; Hu Xueyan, the “red-hat merchant”; and Hu Kaiwen, the master of Huizhou ink.

She County

Shexian County, together with Langzhong in Sichuan, Lijiang in Yunnan and Pingyao in Shanxi, is known as one of China's “four best-preserved ancient cities.” In ancient times it was the seat of Huizhou Prefecture and one of the birthplaces of Huizhou culture. It is also the birthplace of Peking opera and the main production center of the “Four Treasures of the Study,” including Huizhou ink sticks and She inkstones. The ancient memorial archways, ancestral halls and residences together form a grand historical panorama of old Huizhou. All of this is a precious cultural legacy left to us by earlier generations.

Xidi

Xidi is a classic representative of a thousand years of Huizhou culture, uniting archways, ancient residences and ancestral halls in one place, the so-called “three wonders.” It is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The village still preserves 124 residences from the Ming and Qing dynasties, earning it the nickname “Museum of Ming and Qing Architecture in China.” The residences are mostly brick-and-wood multi-storey houses in either three-room or courtyard layouts, with horse-head gables and small grey tiles, and they are noted for their orderly planning and refined construction. Many scenes in *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* were filmed here, which has further raised Xidi's profile.

¥104 · 2–4 hours

Nanping

A village with more than 1,100 years of history. Director Zhang Yimou's film *Ju Dou* was shot here. Nanping is full of high walls and deep lanes. Its streets criss-cross and twist, so a stranger can feel as though they've walked into a maze, which is why it is also called “a maze-like village.” The village still preserves a considerable number of ancestral halls, branch halls and family shrines, forming a group of elegantly styled halls. Nanping's ancestral hall complex is both a showcase of Huizhou architectural art and a museum for understanding China's ancient clan system.

¥43 · 2–3 hours

Kengkou

Kengkou Village, formerly known as Longchuan, has a distinctive landform and beautiful scenery. In front of the village rises the lofty Longxu Mountain, a stream flows through the village, and the village layout is said to resemble a boat. The Hu Clan Ancestral Hall is a national key cultural heritage site. It carries on the traditional features of Huizhou ancestral halls, and its woodcarvings, which take many striking forms, are widely regarded as one of the finest carving collections among China's ancient ancestral halls.

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