Why did Hongcun build like this?

During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the seventy-six ancestors of Hongcun hired Mr. Feng Shui "He Keda" for survey three times. He believes that the geographical feng shui situation of Hongcun is a lying cow, and it must be planned and developed according to "Niucun".

First, use a natural spring in the village to expand and dig a half-moon moon pool as a "cow's stomach"; Then, a stone dam was built across the Jiyang River in the west of the village, and a puddle with a width of more than 60 cm and a length of more than 400 m was built with stones, which led the water flowing into the village from the west to the south and east, surrounded the ancient buildings and ran through the "bovine stomach". This is the "beef intestines". There are stepping stones to wash clothes and water flowers all the way. The houses on both sides of the "cattle farm" are mostly courtyards with flowers and fruit trees, low walls carved with masonry, winding waterside promenades, and small and exquisite bonsai rockeries. The winding "ox intestines" pass through the hospital, and the running water will not rot for years.

Then set up four wooden bridges at Yushanxi in the west of the village as "cow feet". In this way, an ox-shaped village is formed, in which "the mountain is the bull's head, the tree is the horn, the house is the cow's body and the bridge is the foot".

It is said that when digging the moon pool, many people advocated digging it into the shape of a full moon, but Chongniang, the wife of the 76th ancestor at that time, strongly disagreed. She believes that "flowers bloom and flowers fall, and the monthly surplus is a loss", which can only be dug into a half-moon shape. Finally, the moon pool became a "half-moon climb".

Later, Mr. Feng Shui thought that according to the saying that cows can "ruminate" only with two stomachs, from the perspective of geomantic omen, Yuetang, as an "internal yang water", needs to be combined with an "external yang water" to truly develop villages. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, a hundred acres of fertile land in the south of the village was dug into the South Lake, which was another "cow stomach". The design and construction of Hongcun "Niuxing Village" lasted 130 years.

The scientific water system design of "Niuxing Village" has solved the fire-fighting water for Hongcun, adjusted the temperature, provided convenience for residents to use water for production and life, and created a good environment of "gathering around the river without hindering the passage of streams and roads, and there are clear springs in front of every house".