Donglong Village

Donglong Village

Donglong Village is nestled in a mountain basin at an elevation of around 500 meters, situated at the border between Ningdu and Shicheng. It is surrounded by lush green hills and crisscrossed by clear streams. Historical records indicate that the village was first established in the fifth year of the Qiande era during the Northern Song Dynasty (967 AD), boasting a history of over a thousand years.

The village’s most notable characteristics are its people-oriented layout and the traditional architectural philosophy of harmony between humanity and nature. Since its founding, the ancestors of the Li clan selected, based on the surrounding environment, the most majestic and longest-reaching mountain ridges—Donglong Ridge and Nanqiao Ridge—as the village’s two dragon veins. On one of these, they built a cluster of houses on terraced land following the contour of the dragon vein, interspersed with hundreds of ponds of varying sizes. At the same time, two clear streams were channeled down from the high mountains to the north and south, meandering along the edges of the village to create an effect of “mountains encircling waters,” thus blending the entire settlement into a landscape of verdant hills and lucid waters. The other key feature is the ancestral hall. Corresponding to the ancestral hall is the village’s largest temple: the Jade Emperor Palace.

Though covering only 2.5 square kilometers, Donglong Village boasts a large collection of ancient buildings and scenic spots, forming its own “Ten Scenic Spots” culture. Nurtured by its picturesque surroundings, the village has produced numerous distinguished individuals, including over 400 successful candidates in the imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties alone. With a profound and well-preserved cultural heritage, the village also hosts a rich variety of long-standing Hakka folk activities that remain highly vibrant... It has been hailed by experts as the “No.1 Ancestral Hall Village in Southern China.”

At the junction of Ningdu and Shicheng—counties that were among the earliest settlements of the Hakka people—lies a mountain basin at an altitude of about 500 meters. This basin is embraced by green hills and encircled by clear streams, cradling a millennia-old village: Donglong Village in Tianbu Township, Ningdu County.

During the Tang Dynasty, this place was called Dongtun. Hakka ancestors traveling from eastern Ningdu to Fujian would use the Dongtun Pass as a shortcut. In the early Qiande era of the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Yijun, who had settled in Banjing, Shicheng, came to Donglong to hunt and was captivated by this blessed land of green hills, prompting his whole family to relocate here. Because “to the southeast lies a range of rolling hills, winding like a resting dragon,” he renamed the place Donglong.

Recommended visit duration: 3 hours

Transportation: Self-drive

Ticket: None

Opening hours: All day

Location: Donglong Village, Ningdu County, Ganzhou, Jiangxi