Shikantou Village

Shikantou Village

Shikantou Village is an ancient village in Jixi County. A local folk rhyme vividly depicts its terrain: “Shikantou, Shikantou, three steps to the bed and you’ve hit a stone.” The entire village is divided in two by the Yunchuan Stream, which winds its way through, forming a charming water street. The stream stretches over 2,000 meters from the south to the north of the village, and more than ten ancient bridges built during the Ming and Qing dynasties arch over the stream like rainbows. Fourteen ancient lanes are narrow and deep, twisting and turning in unpredictable ways—some are so narrow that passersby going in opposite directions have to sidestep to get by. Over half of the residences in Shikantou Village are architecture from the Ming and Qing periods, and experts from the Anhui Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau have praised it as “a pearl among Huizhou’s ancient villages.” Many artists come here to sketch and paint, commending it as “even older, more layered, and more charming than Xidi Village in Yixian County.”