Yi County, Huangshan, Anhui, China
宏村 · Hóngcūn
A village of white walls and black tiles at the foot of the Huangshan hills, built by one clan, the Wang, round a system of water: a stream led through every lane, a half-moon pond at its heart and a lake at its edge, all laid out, they said, in the shape of an ox. The merchants who grew rich in salt and tea came home and filled it with carved halls.
Photo: Davidmcbride, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The Wang family moved here in the 12th century. In the early Ming (1368–1644), the story goes, a feng shui master laid the village out as an ox lying by the hill: the hill is its head, two great trees at the entrance its horns, the houses its body, the canals its intestines and the pond and lake its stomachs. In practice the water system gave every house running water and a defence against fire.
In the Ming and Qing (1644–1912), Huizhou men left the hills to trade salt, tea and timber across China, and sent their fortunes home. Hongcun's lanes are lined with their houses, high blank walls outside and carved wood within. With its neighbour Xidi, it was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2000.
One ticket covers the village and its open houses.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| Hongcun village and the Moon Pond | 104 yuan |
| Chengzhi Hall and the other open houses | Included |
| South Lake and Nanhu Academy | Included |
A half-moon pond at the centre of the village, dug in the early 15th century: the ox's stomach. Houses and the ancestral hall stand round it, doubled in the still water. Early in the morning, women still wash vegetables on its stone steps, and art students sit sketching along its edge.
Then walk down to the South Lake, dug in 1607. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) shot scenes by its arched bridge. Stand on the far bank looking back at the bridge and the white houses behind it, and you have a film-still shot of your own.
"It is a museum village." About a thousand people still live here; many houses are now guesthouses and shops, but families still use the canals.
"The ox shape is visible from the air." It is a way of reading the plan, not a picture; you need the story to see it.
We searched Chinese sources first for this list, then English ones.
The village is small; two or three hours are enough, but the light at dawn and dusk is the reason to stay a night.
A gingko and a maple-poplar at the entrance, the ox's horns, said to be several hundred years old.
The heart of the village, with the clan's ancestral hall, Lexu Tang, on its north side.
Built in 1855 by the salt merchant Wang Dinggui: some sixty rooms, a fishpond room and carvings on every beam, among them a scene of a banquet in which, guides say, every figure has a different face.
Follow the stone-lined channel through the lanes; the water passes the doors of every house before reaching the pond.
The lake dug in 1607, with its arched bridge, and on its north shore the Nanhu Academy of 1814, where the village's boys studied for the examinations.
Come back to the South Lake at first light, when mist lies on the water and the hills behind are still blue.
In 1607, the year the South Lake was dug, English settlers founded Jamestown in Virginia.
| Year | Here | Elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1131 | The Wang family settles at Hongcun | The future king Louis VII is crowned in France |
| 1607 | The South Lake is dug | English settlers found Jamestown |
| 1855 | Wang Dinggui builds the Chengzhi Hall | Paris holds its first World's Fair |
| 2000 | Listed as a World Heritage Site with Xidi | A first draft of the human genome is announced |
One line to remember: a village built round its water, where every lane has a stream and every house a carved hall.
These are stories people tell about this place. They are legends, not history, and each one says where it comes from.
A feng shui master, the story goes, told the Wang family to build their village as an ox, so that it would be strong and prosperous; the clan dug the pond and lake to complete its body.
Source: The village's own account of its plan
Later, people who live here will be able to add the stories they grew up with, and say which of these they have heard.
Last checked 2026-11-12. Ticket price from Ctrip (2026); we did not find official 2026 opening hours, so none are given.
Checked 2026-11-12
Opening hours are given in the local time of the place. Prices are in the local currency. The figure after ≈ is approximate, at exchange rates checked on 9 November 2026, in .
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