Xingdun Ancient Village

Xingdun Ancient Village

Xingdun Village is located in the southwestern part of Zhejiang, at the border between Zhejiang and Fujian. As you travel through the mountains, you’ll be surrounded by green bamboo, clear streams, and fields of azaleas in red, white, and purple, creating a vibrant sea of blossoms. If Niutoushan is a dream lost in the mountains, then Xingdun is a raw gem nestled in the forest; if Niutoushan boasts the prosperity of a century-old trading port, then Xingdun offers an unspoiled simplicity untouched by the outside world…

With rolling green hills, lush forests, and tall bamboo, it’s just 60 kilometers southwest from the city center to Niutoushan Town, known as the “Lock and Key of Maple Creek.” After a brief stop, you drive up a winding mountain road, where occasionally a mountain spring cascades down from the top of a cliff amid the tranquil hills. Outside your car window, there’s nothing but green — vast bamboo forests, rushing streams, and cool mountain breezes, making you feel as though you’re floating on a sea of emerald.

The forest coverage rate within Xingdun Village exceeds 95%, and there are many ancient and notable trees. Among them, the Southern Yew Conservation Area is the only wild plant reserve in Zhejiang Province that focuses on the Southern Yew, a national first-class rare and endangered protected plant known as the “panda of plants.” In addition to the yew groves, the area also features the Dai Family Ancestral Hall, the Anmin Pass, the Eight Sisters Spring, the Tongwu Ancient Path, the Xinxing Ancient Temple, paper-making workshops, the Shamao Waterfall, the Gaolan Terraced Fields, and the deep bamboo forests — offering beautiful scenery all year round.

The people of Xingdun have their own dialect, which differs from the Niutoushan accent. It turns out that the area around Xingdun Village was once called Rujia Dun and was one of the key routes to Fujian. Legend has it that during the Northern Song Dynasty, Yang Bajie, the daughter of the famous general Yang Ye, passed through this area on her way to Fujian. When her warhorse stopped by the roadside to drink water, Yang Bajie pulled out her sword, plunged it into the mountainside, and a clear spring gushed out, nourishing the forest and trees ever since. To this day, this millennia-old spring at the mountaintop still waters ancient trees that are hundreds of years old.

In the village, houses are lined up closely, and every door is left open. Walking upstream along the clear stream, you’ll see century-old Southern Yews over 20 meters tall on one side of the mountain path, standing tall and shading the road, scattered in pairs along both sides. Their ancient yet sturdy trunks reach for the sky, far more noble than the poplar trees scattered across the fields, and more spirited and majestic than the phoenix trees lining the roads.

The most famous spots in Xingdun Village are the Lingtou Natural Village and the Southern Yew Conservation Area in the Xueling Secondary Primitive Forest. This conservation area primarily features the Southern Yew, a national first-class protected wild plant, covering a total area of 40 square kilometers with elevations ranging from 750 to 820 meters. There are more than 100 Southern Yews scattered throughout, 49 of which are over 100 years old. In recent years, the yew groves of Xingdun Village have attracted increasing attention, with many people coming specially to take photos with these century-old trees.

In Lingtou Natural Village, where the yews are more densely distributed, you can see lush trees right at the entrance. Eighteen large trees, including Southern Yews, Japanese cryptomerias, and Castanopsis trees, are scattered along the mountainside of the village, all over 200 years old. A 560-year-old Japanese cryptomeria is so thick that it takes four or five people to encircle it with their arms. Every December, the Southern Yews bear clusters of bright red berries, vivid inside and out, becoming a stunning sight.

With green hills, clear waters, dense forests, tall bamboo, and murmuring streams, walking here feels like stepping into a paradise on earth.

Transportation:

Traveling from Niutoushan Ancient Town to Xingdun Village is now very convenient, with fully paved roads and a journey of about twenty minutes. Exit the ancient town heading south along National Highway 205, and when you reach a place called Fugai Mountain Village, you’ll find the turnoff to Xingdun Village.