The ancient buildings on either side of Tunxi Street are of another flavor. The street is
1.5km long, paved with brown stone slabs and flanked by shops, workshops and dwelling
houses. Red walls, green roofs, double-eaves, engraved balustrade and carved window
lattice feature a typical style of Huizhou architecture. Various sign-boards are hung over
the different shops and firms, such as the time-honored Tongderen Herbal Medicine,
Chengdexing Sauce, Tonghe Scales, Huibaozhai Ink, Tianyugai Umbrellas, Buyunxuan Shoes,
Fulongzhuang Local Products, etc. The naming of the shops still retains an ancient style
of implicitness. The 5-metre-wide street is always crowded at the market time. Shoppers
and tourists rub shoulders, noises, selling cries and music mix with each other, and the
sweet smell of cooking fills the street¡ Such is a scene typical of the markets in the
Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Situated in Qimen County is an ancient house called
Xinwuli , or Six Counties Under One Prefecture by the local people.
Built by Ni Wangzhong, a court minister in Tongzhi's reign of the Qing Dynasty, it covers
an area of 1,600m2. There are various interpretations concerning the name Six
Counties Under One Prefecture . Some say it is related to the architectural form, for the
house consists of a central hall and six rooms. But the most commonly accepted
interpretation goes with the owner's life story. Ni was successively the magistrate of six
counties in Zhejiang and then became the prefecture magistrate. So back in his native
place Zhukou Village he had his house laid out in this six-one structure to
commemorate his official career. The grand central hall is used to receive guests and hold
banquets. Around it are six rooms, which serve as living room, study and bedrooms. The
whole house symbolizes his official posts in six counties and one prefecture. With
courtyards, fishponds, gardens, carved beams and painted pillars, the overall
arrangement of the mansion is reasonable and in a neat formation,
reflecting the architectural style of the time and the social status of the owner.
The town of Shexian County, one of the famous cultural and historical towns in China, was
once the capital of Huizhou Prefecture. It has been booming in culture, and hence regarded
as "the most famous cultural town in the Southeast . As a result there are countless
sites of historical or cultural interest. It is said that there are several thousand
ancestral temples in Shexian County alone, as well as over 200 dwelling houses, workshops,
towers, pavilions, temples and other buildings of the Ming Dynasty, and a lot of
architecture of the Qing Dynasty. There in the county are also dwelling house gardens,
ancestral temples and memorial arches, left behind by rich merchants and bureaucrats and
regarded as the three ancient architectural masterpieces ; magnificent bridges,
ancient pagodas and temples; as well as some precious ancient mural paintings and
exquisitely copied stone inscriptions by famous calligraphers of different dynasties.
Among the most ancient buildings are the two Song Pagodas (Xinzhou Stone Pagoda and
Changqing Temple Pagoda) and Dongqiao Watchtower, all built more than 800 years ago;
Taiping Bridge, built 700 years ago; as well as Laowu Mansion, the Green Pavilion and some
temples and houses, which are about 400~500 years old. Collected in the Steles Garden are
over 200 stone inscriptions of famous calligraphers' handwritings. The inscription of
Yuqing Copybook and Qingjiantang Copybook are the best preserved, converging the
calligraphically essence of different schools from the Jin to the Ming Dynasty, represented
by Wang Xizhi, Ouyang Xun, Huai Su, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Meng Fu, Dong Qichang and other
master calligraphers.
The ancient buildings on either side of Tunxi Street are of another flavor. The street is
1.5km long, paved with brown stone slabs and flanked by shops, workshops and dwelling
houses. Red walls, green roofs, double-eaves, engraved balustrade and carved window
lattice feature a typical style of Huizhou architecture. Various sign-boards are hung over
the different shops and firms, such as the time-honored Tongderen Herbal Medicine,
Chengdexing Sauce, Tonghe Scales, Huibaozhai Ink, Tianyugai Umbrellas, Buyunxuan Shoes,
Fulongzhuang Local Products, etc. The naming of the shops still retains an ancient style
of implicitness. The 5-metre-wide street is always crowded at the market time. Shoppers
and tourists rub shoulders, noises, selling cries and music mix with each other, and the
sweet smell of cooking fills the street¡ Such is a scene typical of the markets in the
Ming and Qing Dynasties.
interpretations concerning the name Six
Counties Under One Prefecture . Some say it is related to the architectural form, for the
house consists of a central hall and six rooms. But the most commonly accepted
interpretation goes with the owner's life story. Ni was successively the magistrate of six
counties in Zhejiang and then became the prefecture magistrate. So back in his native
place Zhukou Village he had his house laid out in this six-one structure to
commemorate his official career. The grand central hall is used to receive guests and hold
banquets. Around it are six rooms, which serve as living room, study and bedrooms. The
whole house symbolizes his official posts in six counties and one prefecture. With
courtyards, fishponds, gardens, carved beams and painted pillars, the overall
arrangement of the mansion is reasonable and in a neat formation,
reflecting the architectural style of the time and the social status of the owner.
Collected in the Steles Garden are
over 200 stone inscriptions of famous calligraphers' handwritings. The inscription of
Yuqing Copybook and Qingjiantang Copybook are the best preserved, converging the
calligraphically essence of different schools from the Jin to the Ming Dynasty, represented
by Wang Xizhi, Ouyang Xun, Huai Su, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Meng Fu, Dong Qichang and other
master calligraphers.