Huizhou Ancient Town

Location: located in the county town of Shexian, Huangshan City, Anhui Province
Opening time: 08:00 - 17:00.
Ticket Information:

A Famous Ancient Chinese Town

Huizhou Ancient Town is a thousand-year-old place known as one of the famous Chinese historical and cultural places for its old constructions, e.g. Hui Garden (徽园), Renhe Building (仁和楼), Deyue Buidling (得月楼), Tea House (茶楼), Huifeng Stone Archway (惠风石坊), Huizhou Ancient Town is commonly considered as an open museum displaying ancient Huizhou culture.

Between the 1^st century and the 12^th century in Chinese history, there were four large-scale moves of population from the North and the Central Plains to the South, which brought a great deal of advanced production technology and Central Plains Culture. Huizhou was one of the southern towns benefiting from the moves and rose up to its period of great prosperity in Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. On one hand, it accepted the advantages of the ecdemic cultures; one the other hand, it kept its local culture and developed many unique styles in all aspects: Xin'an Neo-Confucianism, Xin'an iatrology, Huizhou seal cutting, Huizhou opera, Huizhou architecture, Huizhou cuinsine, Huizhou tea ceremony, Huizhou dialect, Huizhou Four Carvings (tile carving, wood carving, stone carving and bamboo carving), etc.

The Status of Huizhou Culture

Huizhou Ancient Town drew attention since 1930s due to its characteristic features. In 1980s, the concept of "Hui Studies (short for Huizhou Studies)" was widely known and specialized organizations of Hui Studies were established in even the US, Japan, North Korean and Singapore. When it was 1990s, Hui Studies was hailed the "Three Major Regional Studies of China" together with Dunhuang Studies and Tibetan Studies.

Main Attractions in Huizhou Ancient Town

- Hui Garden: where the "three great achievements of Huizhou" (arche, dwelling and ancestral hall) and the "three carvings of Huizhou" (tile carving, wood carving and stone carving) assemble.

- Xuguo Stone Archway: built in 1584 with gravel tuff in a length of 11.56 meters, the arch was designed with eight pillars and named after "Xu Guo", a grand secretary making great contributions to the empire of Ming.

- Ancient Yuliang Dam: functioning as the key post of waterway of Huizhou for hundreds of years, less than 2 km away from the ancient Yulaing Street. The dam is 138 meters in length, 27 meters in base width and 4 meters in apical width, constructed with solid rocks and now being under the national protection.

- Doushan Street: built during the Ming and Qing dynasties, over 300 meters in length, the street well displays the typical style of Anhui-styled architecture, with the houses of Xu (许), Wang (汪), Yang (杨) and Wang (王) families being the grandest ones. It is also famous for being the habitation of Huizhou merchants in the ancient times.

- Xin'an Stele Forest: a private landscape-style architectural complex several courtyards with the Taibai Building as the highlight.

- Tao Xingzhi Memorial Hall: Tao Xingzhi (1891-1946) is a native of Shexian County, who came back from the US after his studies there. He made his effort in pushing "mass education" and established the Nanjing Xiaozhuang Normal School. After the Japan's invasion of China during the World War II, he put himself in the anti-Japanese movement.