When is the best time to visit Shilin Ancient Village?

Best time to visit Shilin Ancient Village: All year round

Shilin Ancient Village is located in the Danshan Chishui Scenic Area in Dalan Town, Yuyao City, 45 kilometers away from Yuyao City. Danshan Chishui Scenic Area is the first national 3A-level scenic spot in Yuyao City... If you want to experience the beautiful scenery of Siming Mountain, come to Shilin; if you want to explore Yuyao's profound cultural heritage as a famous literary country, Come to Persimmon Grove.

Shilin Village is located in the hinterland of Siming Mountain. It takes an hour and a half to drive along the Huxi Line from Yuyao into the mountain. When you see a rectangular stone pillar stacked with another square boulder, Shilin Village has arrived. There are three sayings in Shilin Village that have been passed down from generation to generation: one surname, one well, and one heart. There are 283 households in the village and 777 villagers all named Shen. According to records, the tenth son of King Wen of Zhou was entrusted to Shen and was the ancestor of the Shen family. The 45th generation ancestor moved here at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty and was the ancestor of the Shen family in Shilin. According to legend, he was the descendant of Shen Kuo. In the Shen ancestral hall in the southwest corner of the village, there is a plaque bearing the name of the Wensu family.

There is a well in the village. According to the village elders, Taigong, the founder of Persimmon Forest, came here to cut firewood one winter. He hung the lunch bag he brought on a tree trunk, and it was still warm at noon. The next day he dug a well next to the tree, and the water in the well was steaming. He thought the place had good feng shui, so he built several thatched huts and lived in it, and it has flourished for generations to this day. For more than 600 years, this well has never dried up. The entire village relies on it for drinking water. Although tap water is now installed in the village, the villagers still like to drink from the well.

Going down from the northeast corner of the village entrance and walking through 417 stone steps, you will arrive at Danshan Chishui Scenic Area. Legend has it that this is the place where ancient immortals killed sheep. The rock walls were dyed red with sheep blood, so it was called Danshan. There was a stream flowing under the cliff. The red cliff was reflected in the stream, and the stream was also red, so it was named Chishui. There is a bridge on the Chishui River, named Chishui Bridge, which is the only way to Zhangcun, Yinjiang and Ningbo. It has been built many times in history. The current bridge was built in 1859 by Shen Yunzhang, a resident of Shilin Village.

Most of the houses in the village are wooden houses with stone walls. Because the flat land in the village is limited and the houses are very close to each other, the roads in the village are very narrow, and you can touch the stone walls on both sides with your hand. Persimmon trees, ginkgo trees, jujube trees, torreya trees, etc. are planted in the front and back of the village, beside the houses and in the corners.

Maybe it’s because Shen Kuo, a famous ancient scientist, preceded him. The people in Shilin Village are different from other mountain people in that they advocate reading. There is not a single illiterate adult in the village. If a child goes to college, the whole village will feel proud. In the past, there were many imperial examination officials and scholars in the village, so Shilin was also called Shilin in the past. After the college entrance examination was resumed, 60 or 70 people in the village were admitted to colleges or above.

Now the village is called the Persimmon Forest because of the persimmons planted all over the mountains and plains. If you go to the persimmon forest in the evening of autumn, you can enjoy the beauty of the autumn colors of the persimmon forest: red sunset, red glow, red frost leaves, red persimmons, a red world.

The ancient Shilin Village is now a hot spot for tourists. As the first scenic spot in Yuyao City, Shilin has attracted a large number of tourists with its unique cultural connotation and natural scenery. Some villagers saw the business opportunities contained in it and opened restaurants, hotels, and canteens one after another. Shilin Village, which had been silent for more than 600 years, is now lively.