Seven Sages Shrine

Seven Sages Shrine

The Seven Sages Shrine, located to the west of Xidi Village and along the northern shore of Mingjing Lake, forms a scenic counterpart with the Hu Wenguang Archway. Also known as the Horse-Galloping Tower, it was built in the Dingwei year of the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty (1787) by Hu Guansan, the 24th-generation ancestor of the Mingjing Hu clan and an official of the third rank (Tongyi Daifu), as a hurried construction project to welcome his father-in-law and fellow statesman Cao Zhenyong, a veteran prime minister who had served under three emperors.

Xidi Village: Xidi Village is situated in Dongyuan Township, Yi County, on the southern foothills of the Huangshan Mountain Range in Anhui Province. It lies 8 kilometers east of the county seat, with the road from Yicheng to Tankou passing by the northwest side of the village.

The ancient dwellings of Xidi are largely well-preserved. Their architectural style stands out uniquely within the Huizhou school, featuring exquisite craftsmanship, especially in the Three Carvings (stone carving, wood carving, and brick carving), with stone carving being particularly outstanding. These structures serve not only as physical artifacts for studying Qing Dynasty residential architecture but also as valuable resources for researching the socio-economic patterns of the Huizhou merchants, as well as the history of architecture and art from the Ming and Qing dynasties onward. The village is hailed as the "Museum of Ming and Qing Residential Architecture," the "Treasury of Eastern Culture," and "The Best Preserved… Xidi Village Detailed Information++