The architectural features, historical legends and folk tales of Wannan residential buildings
1. Architectural characteristics of folk houses in southern Anhui:
White walls and black tiles are the outstanding features of Huizhou architecture. The well-proportioned horse head wall is not only beautiful in shape, but more importantly, it has the function of a firewall, which can block the spread of fire.
One of the characteristics of Huizhou folk houses is the high walls and deep courtyards. On the one hand, it is to protect against thieves, and on the other hand, it is the need for psychological security for migratory families who have suffered from displacement. ?
Another characteristic of Huizhou folk houses is the inward courtyard formed with a deep patio as the center, surrounded by high walls. There are almost no tiles visible outside. Only the long and narrow patio provides lighting, ventilation and ventilation. External communication. This basic form with the patio as the center and enclosed by high walls is the focus of people's attention. Rainwater falling on rainy days flows into the patio from the four roofs, which is commonly known as "four waters return to the hall".
The folk houses in southern Anhui are famous for preserving a large number of ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Xin'an is a cultural town with many officials and merchants in history. In She County alone, there are hundreds of non-commissioned officers above the rank of civil servant. Huizhou merchants spread throughout southern Anhui. "Among the wealthy families, Xin'an is the first in Jiangnan." Their huge wealth has created this exquisite ancient residential museum in southern Anhui.
The ancient buildings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties that exist in Huizhou today are mainly concentrated in Yi County, She County, Jixi and Xiuning. Yishe County has 365 ancient buildings, more than 100 valuable ones, and 27 ancient ancestral halls, concentrated in Xiongcun, Chengkan, Qiankou, Tangyue, Shendu and other villages. There are more than 100 ancient buildings in Jixi today, concentrated in Homtou, Hangkou, Fengcun, Shangzhuang and other places.
Ancient villages generally consist of archways, houses, ancestral halls, water mouths, road pavilions, workshops, etc. Some villages are very large, such as Chengkan, which has 99 streets and lanes. Strangers often get lost after entering. . Many villages have a well-organized layout, and the water system in Hongcun is an example. Hongcun built a dam near the mountain at the head of the village. The water canals in the village enter each household from both sides of the street and merge into the Yuetang in the middle of the village.
Then it is distributed to households and flows into Nanhu Lake. Each household has large and small channels for washing and drinking water. The layout of residential buildings is generally a three-heyuan or four-heyyuan with a patio as the center and two floors. Medium-sized and large-sized houses are composed of multiple courtyards, and the buildings are all painted with white walls and black tiles. Many of the buildings of wealthy families in the old days were large in scale and decorated with three Huizhou carvings, with exquisite and well-proportioned layouts.
Pieces of ancient buildings in southern Anhui are embedded in the vast famous mountains and beautiful waters of Huangshan Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain and Xin'an River. They are a perfect match between heaven and earth, just like a world-class park that needs no decoration.
2. Historical legends
Huizhou, a mountainous area in southern Anhui Province, has a long history and profound cultural accumulation, and has preserved a large number of traditional buildings and villages with similar shapes and distinctive features.
The ancient villages in southern Anhui are not only cleverly integrated with the topography, landforms, and mountains and rivers, but also coupled with the strong economic strength of Huizhou merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to support their hometowns, culture and education have become increasingly prosperous. Those Huizhou merchants returned to their hometowns. Residences are conceived and built with elegance, culture, nobility and detachment, making the cultural environment of the ancient village richer and the village landscape more prominent.
The biggest difference between the location of ancient villages in southern Anhui and other village forms is that the construction and development of ancient villages in southern Anhui have to a considerable extent been separated from dependence on agriculture. The consciousness, lifestyle and taste of the residents of ancient villages greatly surpassed the ideology of farmers and the general citizen class, and pursued a life taste consistent with the literati and official classes, so they have a strong cultural flavor.
On the basis of the basic style, the ancient village houses in Wannan adopt different decorative techniques, build small courtyards, dig pools, install leaky windows, cleverly set up bonsai, carved beams and painted buildings, and inscribed orchid plaques to create an elegant living environment. , all reflect the extremely high cultural quality and artistic accomplishment of local residents.
The site selection and construction of the ancient villages in southern Anhui followed the Zhouyi Feng Shui theory with a history of more than 2,000 years, emphasizing the ideal state of the unity of man and nature and full respect for the natural environment, paying attention to the dual needs of material and spiritual. It has a scientific foundation and a high aesthetic concept.
The architectural features of the ancient villages in Wannan were developed with the prosperity of Huizhou merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They can best reflect the exquisiteness of their conception and superb craftsmanship in a limited building space. Unique architectural form. Later, Huizhou merchants gradually declined, but the architectural features of this kind of Huizhou folk houses were preserved because they were attached to the ancient folk houses and villages, so they have important historical and architectural value.
3. Folk stories
When Yang Sheng'an, the famous writer of the Ming Dynasty, returned to his hometown as the number one scholar in the rankings, he traveled along the waterway with Yi Wu, the number one scholar.
The waterway is not wide, so one boat must go first and the other behind. Neither of them wanted their own boat to take second place.
Wu Zhuangyuan said to Yang Sheng'an: "I have a couplet. If you match it, I am willing to follow." Yang Sheng'an nodded in agreement. Wu Zhuangyuan read out the first couplet: "Two boats traveling together, the oars are not as fast as the sails."
This first couplet uses homophony to refer not only to objects, but also to Lu Su in the Three Kingdoms and Fan Kuai in the Western Han Dynasty. In "literacy is inferior to force". Yang Sheng'an thought hard, but finally couldn't get it right, so he had to follow up. Yang always kept this in mind. Ten years have passed. On this day when his son got married, the drums and music of the "Blessing Hall" were blaring, and he shouted: "I have it!" The correct one is: "Eight notes are played in unison, how can the flute be as clear as Xiao He."
This second couplet also uses homophony to refer to both objects and people, pointing out the generals Di Qing in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty and Xiao He in the Western Han Dynasty. Di Qing was a military general and Xiao He was a civil servant. Contains the meaning of "wu is inferior to literature". Although this couplet is correct, it is ten years late.
Extended information:
Wannan residential buildings are local traditional residential buildings with a distinctive style. They are located in the mountainous area south of the Yangtze River in Anhui Province, represented by ancient villages such as Xidi and Hongcun. , represented by Huizhou (now Huangshan City, Jixi County and Wuyuan County in Jiangxi) style and Huaiyang style.
Huizhou folk houses have strong Huizhou cultural characteristics. Other folk houses in southern Anhui have profoundly highlighted the style characteristics of its cultural transition zone. They are quite different from Jiangbei and northern Anhui. Today, many imitations of this style are also imitated in northern Anhui and central Anhui. Antique architecture.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Wannan Residential Houses