Xidi

Xidi

Xidi is a patriotic education base and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Xidi is located 8 kilometers east of Yixian County (Yixian County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province) in southern Anhui’s Huizhou region. It was first built during the Huangyou era of the Northern Song Dynasty, boasting a history of nearly a thousand years. Yixian County was originally part of ancient Huizhou, and Xidi, situated in the western part of Huizhou Prefecture, got its name from a post station called “Pudi.” Hongcun is located 10 kilometers north of Yixian County and was first established in the first year of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Wang family built houses here, dammed the river, and channeled water into the village—its history spans over 800 years.

Xidi’s ancient Ming and Qing architectural complex is a typical representation of Huizhou-style architecture, with 120 well-preserved Ming and Qing residences still standing today. Xidi boasts an ecological environment and cultural charm reminiscent of the “Land of Peach Blossoms” depicted by Tao Yuanming in his “Peach Blossom Spring,” and the village is often referred to as the “Home of the Peach Blossom Spring.”

Xidi is renowned nationwide for its long and splendid traditional culture, outstanding Huizhou-style Ming and Qing residences, simple yet beautiful local customs, and exquisite Huizhou woodcarving, brick carving, and stone carving. Among its most distinctive residences are the Dafu Mansion, Yingfu Hall, Dunren Hall, Xiyuan, and Ruiyu Courtyard. The “Hu Wenguang Archway,” also known as the “Xidi Archway,” is a masterpiece of Ming-era Huizhou stone archways and a symbol of Xidi. The village has nurtured many notable figures, including Hu Wenguang, the Prime Minister of Jingfan in the Ming Dynasty, Hu Shangzeng, a second-rank official in the Qing Dynasty, and Hu Guansan, a wealthy merchant—pillars of the nation and scholarly merchants alike.

Within the village stands the “Lufu Hall,” built during the Kangxi era. It features elegant furnishings and is imbued with a scholarly atmosphere. The hall displays couplets such as “Study the Book of Songs to govern the world with literature, practice filial piety and fraternal duty to repay one’s roots,” and “It is good to read, good to do business, and best when both succeed; it is hard to start a venture, hard to maintain it, but knowing the difficulty makes it less so.” These reflect the infiltration of Confucian ideals into architecture.

Another ancient residence in the village is the “Dafu Mansion,” built in the 30th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1691 AD). This street-facing pavilion-style building was originally used for sightseeing. A plaque above the building bears the six large characters: “Home of the Peach Blossom Spring.” Interestingly, many people today associate this building with scenes in period dramas where young ladies toss embroidered balls to choose their grooms. It has now become the venue for this folk activity in Xidi.

Beneath the lintel of the “Dafu Mansion” gate is the inscription “Take a step back and think,” which carries a double meaning and is thought-provoking. Additionally, the grand residences, exquisite gardens, black marble door frames and lattice windows, stone carvings of exotic flowers, birds, and animals, brick carvings of pavilions and theatrical scenes, as well as intricate wood carvings, vibrant paintings, and murals—all reflect the essence of ancient Chinese art.

Xidi is the most representative ancient residential tourism site in Huangshan City. It is located at the southern foot of Huangshan Mountain, 54 kilometers from Tunxi, just 40 kilometers from the Huangshan Scenic Area, and 8 kilometers from Yixian County. The village stretches 700 meters from east to west and 300 meters from north to south, with over 300 households and a population of more than 1,000. It earned the name “Xidi” (meaning “west courier station”) because a stream flows westward nearby and there was once a courier station for delivering mail. It is also known as the “Home of the Peach Blossom Spring.”

According to historical records, the founding ancestor of Xidi was a son of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Ye. After fleeing turmoil and going into hiding among commoners, he changed his surname to Hu, and the settlement gradually grew into a village. Thus, the area has long been known for its strong literary culture. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some scholars abandoned scholarly pursuits for commerce. Their successful business ventures allowed them to invest heavily in construction, building houses, ancestral halls, roads, and bridges, transforming their hometown into a comfortable, grand, and majestic place.

Despite centuries of social upheaval and natural wear, with more than half of the ancient residences, ancestral halls, academies, and archways having been destroyed, hundreds of ancient homes remain, collectively preserving the fundamental appearance and characteristics of a Ming and Qing village.

Experts and scholars have praised Xidi as a “microcosm of traditional Chinese culture” and a “Museum of Ming and Qing Residential Architecture in China.”

Xidi Village: Located in Dongyuan Township at the southern foot of the Huangshan Mountain Range in Yixian County, Anhui Province, Xidi Village lies 8 kilometers east of the county seat. The Yixian–Tankou Road runs northwest of the village.

The ancient residences of Xidi are largely intact, featuring a unique architectural style within the Huizhou tradition, with exquisite craftsmanship and remarkable “three carvings” (stone, wood, and brick), especially notable for their stone carvings. These are not only valuable for studying Qing-era residential architecture but also serve as important resources for researching the socioeconomic structure of Huizhou merchants, as well as architectural and art history since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Recognized as a “Museum of Ming and Qing Residences,” a “Treasury of Eastern Culture,” and “One of the Best-Preserved… Xidi Village Detailed Information++”