Huizhou Architecture — Local customs

Early morning in Hongcun: the Moon Pond is a mirror, and the horse-head gables above the white walls tremble faintly in the water. Smoke rises between the grey tiles, a woman with a bamboo basket crosses the stone slab bridge, and the shadow of the memorial arch stretches long. People here used to say that those who had not earned merit in a former life were born in Huizhou, and at thirteen or fourteen were thrown out into the world; those who came home rich built ancestral halls and houses, and brought honour to the family name.

White wall and dark tile are the love letter Huizhou merchants wrote home — however far they went, the root stayed in this ink-wash country.

01

Why young people fall for it

Traditions, echoed by a new generation

Horse-head gables, stone flags, mist and rain: Huizhou looks like a moving ink painting. Its slowness is the slowness of a spiritual homeland.

01

White walls, dark tiles, stepped gables — a natural ink-wash filter; every frame is wallpaper

02

'The place of a lifetime's hopeless passion — I never even dreamed my way to Huizhou' answers every young imagining of a poetic dwelling

03

Huizhou people honoured learning above all, merchants though they were, and even the old houses smell of books

02

Origins & Practice

History · Customs · Cultural meaning

Huizhou Architecture · Historical Origins

1

Historical Origins

One continuous line · back to the source

Huizhou architecture began in the Eastern Jin and matured in the Ming and Qing. As Huizhou merchants rose, they poured wealth back into their home districts, building finely made houses, ancestral halls and memorial arches. The three carvings of Huizhou — brick, wood and stone — are the essence of the style.

Huizhou Architecture · Customs and Practice

2

Customs and Practice

Seasonal rites · everyday life

The signature is the white wall, the dark tile and the horse-head gable. High walls close the house off, small windows face out, and an inner skywell brings light and air. Halls hang with couplets and paintings, and furniture is largely carved rosewood. Siting follows feng shui: back to the hill, face to the water, the village laid out with the land. Hongcun and Xidi are the outstanding examples, their Moon Pond and South Lake like mirrors holding the white walls and black tiles.

Huizhou Architecture · Cultural Significance

3

Cultural Significance

What the heart turns toward · handed down through generations

Huizhou architecture is a treasure of Chinese building art, marrying Confucian ritual order with Daoist natural philosophy. In 2008 the traditional building craft of Huizhou dwellings was entered on the second national list of representative intangible cultural heritage items (no. Ⅷ-178). In 2000 the ancient villages of southern Anhui — Xidi and Hongcun — were inscribed on the World Heritage List.

03