I Went to Rural Ancient Village in Shaanxi

This could be the red one. I'm in western China, navigating a world racing against time. This is the place I'm too familiar with, but yet there are many things I've never experienced before. With memories disappearing daily and culture going with them, I got to capture this before it's too late. There is bustling markets offering traditional meals cooked by hand. There is history spanning 5,000 years with over 20 dynasties have came and gone, rising and falling. Mountains and rivers nurture the legends of faith and truth and all those stories echoing above the clouds. In this episode, we once again cross the Qinli mountains heading to Xianyang, the ancient capital of the Qin dynasty. Passing through the imperial tombs that have been there for over 10 centuries, there lies a quiet village where people dug their homes into the earth until just 20 years ago. I want to know why they chose to live underground and what would be the reason they stopped doing that. Hey guys, today we're in the village in Shaanxi and because it's in winter now so there is almost no green around us. And a different thing about this village is that the people here they built their houses or technically they dug their houses deep into the underground. And this type of house is widespread in this region and the majority of what we see above the ground was built recently within the past 20 or 30 years because most people have moved out from the pit homes and this type of way of living has gradually fading away. Bai She village was first mentioned in the Qin dynasty. Bai refers to cypress trees while She means a place where people worshipped their land deity. Until the 1980s, over 95% of rural homes here were still in the style of cave dwellings and underground pit homes were a more practical and common choice for them. It's more simple, using minimal building materials and more affordable. As we started from the outer edge of the village, we soon came across three pit houses just not far ahead. Now we are very close to one of these pit houses. Look at this. And there is also one in front of us. And as you can see there are several square pits in the ground and all surrounded by these trees, branches, weeds and grass. These pit houses all seem to be abandoned. It looks like they come from different times. And some of them still have electrical wires and fairly intact walls. But most of them are completely empty. They're showing no signs of life at all. I noticed that while there are several square pits scattered in the ground, the doors to them are barely visible. It seems that either several houses share one single entry or most of the entrances have been filled in or destroyed over time. Now I'm looking to see if I can find one entrance with the door opened to go down there. A lot of dirt is floating up. The wall is quite tall, at least five meters. With several tunnels dug into the walls to form individual rooms as their living space. But most of them have collapsed. So now we're inside one of these tunnels. And here in total there are two rooms. And this is the first one. Here is another room. It's pretty dark inside. And this could be the bedroom. The whole tunnel was painted. And this platform could also be a bed. And this is the place to light the firewood to keep warm in the winter. It says national celebration. Welcome back Hong Kong in 1997, July 1st. I'm the former leader, Deng Xiaoping. In the past, villagers here would carve their homes underground during the farming off season. Though it took more time waiting for the surface to dry and become sturdy, it was still more affordable than using bricks and building houses above ground. But nowadays, with construction materials more accessible and labor costs rising up, these pit homes are no longer their first choice. That pit home and it's quite amazing inside. So according to some of the construction materials there, we can assume that people moved out not too long ago. And feels like if people were still living there, the aging process would slow down a bit. Otherwise, the pit home would collapse much faster without maintaining. The air quality is good here, you know. The air quality is good underground. But the house is still better, you know. The house is like a wheat field, a corn field. You pay the rent and have a pig. It's a flat land, you know. The house is still better, you know. So your family lives in the house now? I have a house in Yao. You have a house down there and a house up there? Yes. In the past, there were three or four kids living in a pit home. You built a house for each kid, you know. And after you got married? After you got married, you built a house for each kid, you know. What about this village? There are 15 villages in this village. There are 18 villages in Beijing. This village is the largest village in Beijing. This village is one village larger than other villages, you know. It's the Qiushu Kingdom. Qiushu, this tree is called Qiushu. This tree can't grow in other villages. It can only grow in our village. Why is this village called Baishu Village? In the past, this village was Baishu. Baishu was exterminated by the dinosaurs. So it's called Qiushu. This village used to grow cigarettes, you know. It used to grow cigarettes, you know. Now it's all apples, you know. What's going on with this village? How should I put it? In the past, old people used to grow corn and wheat, you know. Because in the countryside, old people were always hungry, you know. Do you know that growing corn and wheat has food? Because in the past, people didn't have to talk about money, you know. As long as there is food and porridge, you know. In the past, old people were afraid of starvation, you know. They used to grow grains, right? They used to grow wheat and corn. They had food and porridge. When one or two families grew apples, they raised the economy. Then they all grew apples, you know. What's going on with this village? You still live in this village. Old people live in the countryside, you know. Why? The air is good, you know. Keep the original ecology, you know. Just like the air in the city is not good, you know. Okay, I'll go and see. Thank you. Well said. Bye-bye. Is this for storing things? Yes, you can put things here. Did people sleep here? Yes, you can sleep here. You can sleep here if you want. Anything is fine. I see a bed here. Yes, there is a bed here. You can sleep here if you want. You can sleep here. Anything is fine. There is a closet here. Oh, inside... You can put things here. There is a closet here. This is a closet, you see? You can put things here. You can see everything here. Even if you don't like, you can see everything. You see. You can still put things here. These are two closets. You see. These are closets. Look here. Here, there is a closet here. Look. There is a closet here. Look, there is another one here. Do you see? Yes. These are two closets. You can put things here. Anything is fine. Oh, this is the largest room. Yes, you can put anything here. It's so big. No wonder someone up there told me that a cave can accommodate a whole family. This cave is bigger. You can see the air out of it. Oh, the air out of it. The kitchen. I saw it just now. In the old days, people would dig a hole in the cave. They would put some wood or grass on top of the hole. They would leave it there. So they would put the grass on top of the hole? Yes. Oh, they would transport the grass from the top of the hole. Yes. They would put the grass on top of the hole. They would leave it there for the fish to eat. How old is this house? It's more than 120 years old. It was built during the Qing Dynasty. How long does it take to build a house like this? It takes 10 years to build this yard. It takes 8 to 10 years. That long? We can't finish it in one go. If we finish it in one go, it will collapse. We would have to build it again and again. We would have to work for 2 or 3 years. That's how it is. This house is 780 square meters. Now, we build it every year. We build it every year. We don't build it every year. We build it every year and then we go to the temple. If it doesn't work, we can just do it every ten years. We can just go to the hospital and get it fixed. It used to be a well. A big well? Yes. It used to be a wooden well. The water would come up when you knocked on it. In 1965, there was a power outage. There was a power outage in 1965. They sold a pump. The water would come up when you knocked on it. Oh. The water would come up when you knocked on it. Yes. Now, we don't need it anymore. To build an underground pit home, people first dig 6 to 8 meters down from the surface and then carve out several cave rooms, usually between 6 and 8. Each room is around 5 to 8 meters in length, depending on their family members. On top of that, to manage rainwater, a drainage well about 4 to 5 meters deep is typically dug in the courtyard.