Hongcun Ancient Village

About 11 kilometers (7 miles) due northeast of Yixian County, Hongcun Ancient Village has the praise singer's worth of 'a village in the fairy tale Chinese picture'.

With a 900 years existence, Hongcun Ancient Village is designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. The village layout resembles body of an ox, with Leigang Hill being the 'head', two huge trees on the hill: the 'horns', the residences: the 'body', a winding stream: the 'entrails', Moon Pond: the 'stomach' and the four bridges forming the 'four legs'.

Pictures of Hongcun Village

 Hongcun Ancient Village has about 140 original Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) style residences. Identifiable with pink walls and black tiles, all the residences are sturdy. Among them, the Chengzhi Hall is the most outstanding and is praised as the 'Folk Imperial Palace'. Numerous carvings decorate the columns, beams and door frames and are gilded. Some five kilograms (11 pounds) of gold was used in gilding the wood carvings!

Other halls are Wang Ancestral Hall, Jingxiu Hall, Jingde Hall and Lexu Hall.

Wang's Ancestral Temple

Local Products

 On the north bank of South Lake in Hongcun Village, Nanhu Academy occupies about 6,600 square meters (7,900 square yards). It’s a local-style building of southern Anhui Province. The academy's six parts are: Zhidao Hall uses as classroom, Wenchang Hall warehouses the Confucian memorial tablet, Huiwen Hall is reading room, Qimeng Hall uses for elementary education, Wanghu Pavilion a viewing pavilion and Qiyuan Garden a functional inner courtyard.

Hongcun - A Village in Painting

Ancient Street in Hongcun

 Apart from ancient residences, Hongcun Ancient Village highlights the water scenery. Moon Pond, South Lake and the winding streams lend more color to the village.

Moon Pond in the village center is crescent shaped. It was once a restless spring, then by leading the streams into Moon Pond to supply the villagers' daily water needs.

Moon Pond after Snow

South Lake was built about 200 years later than Moon Pond. When Moon Pond couldn’t meet villagers’ growing needs anymore. They then dug out the South Lake, a giant arch with a two-layer bank around. The upper layer covered with slabs of stone; whereas lower layer planted with willows and poplars. On sunny days with the white residence shadows mirrored on the water it looks particularly superb. The film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was shot nearby.
 Anhui Cuisine is accepted as one of the Eight Great Chinese Cuisines, and you may try many Anhui dishes in Hongcun Ancient Village. The most famous one is Stinky Chinese Perch, which is just like stinky tofu, smells awful but tastes great! Another one you ought to try is the local pancake packed with all kinds of fillings.
 1. Take a bus which runs hourly from 8:00 to 16:00 from Huangshan Bus Station.
2. Take an hourly bus from Huangshan North Railway Station available from 9:25 to 17:25 to Hongcun Ancient Village.
3. From Huangshan Mountain/ Tangkou to Hongcun, there are four buses at 7:40, 9:40, 13:40 and 15:40. Note: there are more buses available in peak tourist season.
 1. Take a tourist bus straight to Hongcun, which is available hourly from 9:00 to 17:00 with an interval of 1h.
2. Take a taxi or private car to Hongcun Ancient Village, the taxi fare is around CNY70.
 

Entrance Fee	CNY104, the ticket is valid for unlimited entries within three days since the time of first entry.
Opening Hours	7:30 - 17:30

 Recommended Guided Tours:
3 Days Huangshan Tour from $399: Hongcun Village - Tunxi Old Street - Huangshan Mountain
4 Days Huangshan Tour from $559: Tunxi - Huangshan Mountain - Hongcun Village
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