Ancient Architectural Complex of Yuyuan Village

Ancient Architectural Complex of Yuyuan Village

The Ancient Architectural Complex of Yuyuan Village is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Ancient Architectural Complex of Yuyuan Village is located 20 kilometers southwest of Wuyi County, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province.

Yuyuan Village was first established in the Southern Song Dynasty. By the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty, it had flourished as a center of literary culture. After the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, villagers prospered through commerce, producing a total of 68 successful candidates in the imperial examinations, including jinshi and juren. The Ming Dynasty scholar Su Pingzhong wrote four essays about the village, all of which were included in the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries. The ancient village of Yuyuan was designed according to an astronomical star chart by Liu Bowen, the founding strategist of the Ming Dynasty. It currently retains two stone arch bridges from the Yuan Dynasty, twelve ancestral halls and residences from the Ming Dynasty, and fourteen structures from the Qing Dynasty, including ancestral halls, temples, stages, and residences (with four large residences, the largest containing 258 rooms), public welfare buildings (such as a charitable granary, elderly care hall, and communal hall), cultural and educational buildings (including private schools, academies, and book houses), commercial and service buildings (such as general stores, pharmacies, inns, decorative paper shops, and incense shops), as well as handicraft workshops (like distilleries, dye workshops, and watermills). A total of 44 structures remain. Only one large residence was burned down by Japanese invaders, two medium-sized residences caught fire, and two workshops were demolished. The architectural complex of Yuyuan features a rich variety of building types, with individually creative designs. Its wood carvings, joinery decorations, murals, and pebblework craftsmanship are all exquisite, giving it an important place in the history of Chinese architecture.

The Ancient Architectural Complex of Yuyuan Village is a typical southern rural settlement characterized by a rigorously complete overall layout, a comprehensive and systematic range of building types, high-quality individual structures, harmonious integration with nature, and well-preserved conditions. In 2001, the complex was listed by the State Council as part of the fifth group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units for its architecture dating from the Yuan to the Qing Dynasty. In 2003, it was jointly recognized by the Ministry of Construction and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage as one of China’s first batch of Famous Historical and Cultural Villages. The construction techniques of the Yuyuan ancient architectural complex have also been included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units