China’s Most Beautiful Village | Timeless Ancient Structures | CGTN Documentary

Huangshan Mountain in China's eastern Anhui Province boasts breathtaking natural wonders and rich cultural heritage. Here, the mist and clouds rise and swirl, revealing the grandeur of nature. Beyond the clouds, about 30 kilometers away, lies a serene place that looks like an ink painting. This is Hongcun Village. Surrounded by mountains and encircled by water, Hongcun is a village of white walls and gray tiles. Though covering less than 20 hectares, it features more than 100 well-preserved homes from the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the eyes of many, its natural landscape and ancient Huizhou-style architecture make it an ideal place to live. Hongcun is located at the foot of Huangshan Mountain in China's eastern Anhui Province. The village next to me is Hongcun, a Chinese historical and cultural village that has been listed as a World Heritage Site. The white walls and gray tiles here are elegant, harmonious with the mountains and the water. It's like an oriental ink painting. I'm going to set up an expedition team with Wang Jun from Zhongguiyuan and He Xi from Hainan University to uncover the mystery of Hongcun's one-man residence. What's your impression of Hongcun? I've been to Hongcun a few times for work reasons. Every time I come here, it feels different. The people of Hongcun have been taking good care of their homeland for generations. That's how a beautiful ancient village like Hongcun was created today. I think Hongcun is a Chinese ancient village. It's very different from the water cities in Venice, Italy. It's a perfect blend of people and nature. It has a natural landscape of green mountains and green water, and it also has the smell of people and birds. Hongcun was inscribed on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List in 2000. Today, the village welcomes around 3.5 million visitors a year, with many drawn by its idyllic charm. Over 800 years ago, during the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Yanji, an ancestor of the village's Wang clan, came to this area to escape from banditry. He led his family over rugged mountains in search of a more peaceful life. After considering factors such as terrain, water sources, and arable land, he decided to settle at the foot of Leigang Mountain. Over a span of more than 20 years, the Wang clan built 13 houses and eventually named their settlement Hongcun. Later, during the Qing Dynasty, the character Hong in the name was changed to avoid clashing with Emperor Qianlong's birth name. In ancient times, the selection of settlement sites emphasized harmony with the natural landscape, blocking the wind and gathering energy, and balancing the yin and yang. Hongcun's location followed these principles. Hongcun nestles against Leigang Mountain, which shields the village from the cold northern winds. Three rivers, the Yushan, Yangzhan, and Dongbian, converge to the south, providing the village with abundant water resources. Jiang Mountain acts like a natural umbrella, shielding the village from the hot summer winds that come from the south. It also forms a picturesque contrast with Moon Pond. The village's distinctive layout has given rise to the so-called Hongcun climate, a mild, humid microclimate characterized by gentle rainfall and favorable weather conditions. Hongcun's unique geographical environment and special climatic advantages have solved the problem of people eating too much. In the farming society, eating too much is a very important thing for the people. Only by solving the problem of food and water, can people be able to flourish and thrive. From the Wang family to the Yi family, many families have gathered to form a large natural village. With abundant harvests and well-stocked granaries, early residents of Hongcun began to elevate their basic need for survival into a pursuit of a more poetic and harmonious way of life. As agriculture flourished, people began to beautify their homes while enjoying a life of peace and prosperity. During the continuous wars and various power shifts of the late Western Jin Dynasty, about 1600 years ago, many aristocratic families fled south from the central plains to Anhui's southern Huizhou region. However, as Huizhou is a mountainous area with limited land, people had to find innovative solutions to meet the demand for housing. This gave rise to a distinctive blend of northern and southern architectural styles. In traditional Chinese architecture, timber frame structures generally fall into two main types. The post and lintel style is more common in the north. The column and tie style is more prevalent in the south. Huizhou-style architecture combines these features. Main halls and rooms often adopt the post and lintel structure, using layers of columns and beams to create open interior spaces. In contrast, side halls and wings use the column and tie style, allowing for more living space within a limited layout. This structure, with its compact design and dense columns, offers greater stability and is well-suited to a humid, wet climate. These rising structures not only maximize space, but also accommodate the rainy southern climate, giving rise to the distinctive architectural features of Huizhou. More distinctive architectural elements emerged as Huizhou-style architecture evolved. Among them was the horsehead wall. The horsehead wall has two layers of cultural connotation. The first layer is the meaning of success in horse-riding. The second layer is the meaning of the layers of the horsehead wall. The layers of the horsehead wall create an atmosphere of horse-riding. Horsehead walls are appreciated for their layers and contours. The combination of white walls and gray tiles radiates rustic simplicity. complementing the surrounding landscape and showcasing a timeless pastoral beauty. When viewed from above, horsehead walls resemble 10,000 horses in full gallop. Among them stands a particularly striking structure, one of grand scale and exquisite craftsmanship. This building is Chengji Hall. Yes, traditional Chinese architecture has its own principles of construction. The first is the concept of Guizhong and Shanghe. The location we are standing at now is actually the central axis of Chengji Hall. It starts from the central gate of our courtyard, and goes all the way to the front hall and then to the back hall. It is a typical three-story courtyard. Among the more than 100 Ming and Qing dynasty residences in Hongtsun, Chengji Hall is the largest and most representative. Built in 1855, it was the home of Wang Dinggui, a salt merchant in the late Qing era. Covering approximately 2,100 square meters, it features nine sky wells, 60 doors, 60 windows, and 136 wooden columns. Chengji Hall comprises a front courtyard, a main hall, and a rear hall. The main hall served as an important space for family gatherings and receiving guests. Its symmetrical layout and square structure reflect the precision and orderliness of classic Chinese architecture. Within this orderly structure, the sky well serves as a window to the heavens, a place where one can watch drifting clouds and shifting light, as well as the sun, the moon, and the stars. These sky wells embody a blend of practical ingenuity and profound cultural symbolism. Water in ancient times represented wealth. So merchants wanted to make a name for themselves. They wanted to make a name for themselves. With its masterful layout, Chengji Hall embodies the elegance of Huizhou architecture, while elaborate wood carvings are a profound expression of its cultural soul. From beams and brackets to railings, doors and windows, every surface is adorned with intricate motifs such as birds, flowers, fish, and insects, as well as scenes from operas and folk customs. Every home in ancient Huizhou featured wood carvings, yet those in Chengji Hall are unparalleled. In this painting, a hundred little boys are depicted holding a variety of lanterns and making a fuss. It is a very delicate and delicate painting. Why is it a masterpiece? The meaning of this painting is very well defined. The word, a hundred little boys, means the prosperity of the future generation. The wood carvings at Chengji Hall are renowned for their exquisite craftsmanship, grand scale, and premium materials. As a result, the hall is sometimes called the Folk Palace Museum. The ancestors of Hongtsun integrated their insights and practical aesthetics into every architectural detail, including the dynamic yet grand water system. Viewed from the air, this water system takes on an ox shape. The village represents the body, Moon Pond in the center symbolizes the stomach, South Lake is the ox's underbelly, and the water channels act as the intestines. The four bridges represent the legs, and the ancient trees at the village entrance are the horns. This biomimetic layout helped protect against flooding for more than eight centuries. Located in a subtropical monsoon climate zone, the village experiences prolonged wet seasons, with average annual precipitation reaching 176.32 cm, nearly triple the national average. Ever since Hongtsun was established, flooding had been its greatest challenge. Yet in the long history of attempting to tame the waters, one extraordinary woman played a pivotal role. Huchong was married to Wang Xin from Hongtsun. When she arrived in the village, securing clean water for daily use and preventing devastating floods was a critical challenge. For nearly a decade, Huchong and her family trekked the mountains and valleys, eventually devising the flood control plan that would lay the foundation for the design of the village's water system. Around 1407, she persuaded her husband to contribute 10,000 tales of silver, and led the clan in transforming a natural spring into what is now known as Moon Pond. After that, she directed the excavation of over 400 meters of winding waterways. With their meandering paths slowing the flow of water, these channels brought clear spring water to every household. Moon Pond and the water channels came to represent the stomach and intestines of the village's ox-shaped layout. Huchong made a final wish before her death, urging her descendants to continue the excavation of South Lake, and fully transform the threat of flooding into a sustainable resource. The water system was eventually completed after generations of continued efforts. Rainwater flows through the 1,200 meters of canals, winding along streets and alleyways before gathering in the 1,200-square-meter Moon Pond, and then draining into the 20,000-square-meter South Lake. The well-organized water system breathed new life into Hongcun. The upper section of the canals provided clean water for villagers' daily needs. The central Moon Pond not only regulated water levels in flood seasons, but also became a shared public space. The South Lake was designed with five carefully placed outlets, where rice husks and vegetable scraps nourished fish and fertilized the lotus plants. Nutrient-rich fish waste and lotus leaves then flowed into the fields, nourishing crops and fertilizing the soil, forming a sustainable cycle. Even today, this water system continues to benefit residents. Thanks to its robust and well-engineered design, Hongcun can weather any storm and emerge unscathed. The village's layout and water system have come to be regarded as marvels of bionic architecture. Hongcun's intricate, ox-shaped layout and picturesque natural scenery draw many visitors every year. Today, more young people from the area are choosing to stay and build their futures here. And, as a World Cultural Heritage Site, its influence has transcended borders. People from other provinces and even abroad are attracted by Hongcun's livable environment and rich cultural legacy. This is Armin. This is Alina. Hello. Welcome to Alina's Garden. Huang Qiong, from China's Hubei Province, and her husband Armin Schober, from Austria, were married in the southern city of Shenzhen in 2017. Both were working in Shenzhen at the time. In 2021, they visited Hongcun as tourists. Armin was deeply attracted by its down-to-earth people, beautiful surroundings, and distinctive architecture. So, they made the bold decision to settle here. The couple initially opened a guesthouse. Drawing inspiration from the Austrian architectural style, Armin transformed the space into a blend of Chinese and Western design. In addition to running the guesthouse, Armin also opened a restaurant in 2023, serving visitors from around the world with specialty pizzas and hand-crafted coffee. I think it's the architecture that attracted me to it because it's built in its ancient style. You can still see it. Today, Hongcun Village attracts an endless stream of tourists, as well as visitors, from over 100 Chinese villages eager to learn its ways. Huizhou's architectural culture, represented by Hongcun, also reaches beyond China's borders. Notable examples include the Chinese Garden in Frankfurt, Germany, and the Beijing Hotel in Minsk, Belarus, both of which feature Huizhou architectural elements. As one of the most beautiful villages in China, Hongcun's revitalization offers a replicable example for the preservation and inheritance of ancient village heritage worldwide.