Yunshan Shidai

Yunshan Shidai

Yunshan Shidai is a cultural heritage site protected by Jiangxi Province.

Located in Pailou Zhaojia, Taigang Brigade, Renshou Township, Jing’an County, Yichun City, Jiangxi Province—referred to by villagers as “Paitou”—there remains a group of ancient buildings. The core part is a large rectangular courtyard, known as Yunshan Shidai.

Yunshan Shidai is the center of the village, with houses built around this ancestral hall, forming the “four streets and eight lanes.” Due to the dense arrangement of the houses and closely aligned eaves, it was once possible to walk through the lanes “without seeing dust on sunny days and without wetting your shoes on rainy days.”

Within Yunshan Shidai, the oldest part is not the central axis-aligned ancestral hall complex, but rather a two-courtyard residential building located to the north. Villagers refer to the northern section as the “old house,” saying that the ancestral hall was built only after the old house.

According to investigations by relevant experts, the old house was indeed constructed earlier than the ancestral hall, indicating that this was an enclosed architectural complex where the inner residences were built first, followed by the outer walls or enclosing structures.

Legend has it that the Zhao family who migrated here had three brothers, with Pailou Village being one branch. The other two branches are located in nearby Yuncun and Jiantou Village, with Pailou Village being the most prosperous.

Some villagers believe that the founder of Pailou Zhaojia Village was Zhao Zheng, a descendant of Emperor Zhao Kuangyin, and that Yunshan Shidai was also built by Zhao Zheng. However, elderly villagers told reporters that the builder of Yunshan Shidai was likely Zhao Chang (a descendant of Zhao Zheng).

The existing houses both inside and outside the walls of Yunshan Shidai date from ancient times through the modern and contemporary periods. Although renovations and alterations by villagers in recent times have greatly damaged the original appearance and integrity of this ancient architectural complex, its core section—the main buildings consisting of two routes with two or three courtyards in the central area—remains largely intact to this day.

The design and structure of the beams are mainly from the early Ming Dynasty. The beams have a slightly curved moon shape, but the visible beams (mingfu) are not painted. Structurally, the central bay uses a reduced-column method with raised beams; at the position of the front interior column, a horizontal beam of the same diameter as the main beam is used, with the main beam placed upon it—thus eliminating two front interior columns. The rear part of the main beam sits atop the rear interior column, with its upper section supported by a large bracket and a diagonal bracket arm that holds up the secondary and tertiary beams. The rear interior columns are connected by a tie beam, above which lies a purlin plate, while the rear eave columns and interior columns are linked by through-tenon beams. The front eave columns have tie beams and purlin plates, with large brackets supporting an inward-curving bracket arm in the middle—externally holding the outer eave purlin and internally supporting the lower interior purlin. The connection between the large horizontal beam and the front eave relies on the large through-tenon frame on the gable side of the secondary bay. All round purlins are double-layered; locally, purlins are called “heng,” and the lower ones are referred to as “liang.” The two raised beam frames in the central bay retain certain features of Song Dynasty timber construction.

Staff from Jing’an County stated: “The reduced-column method using the horizontal beam under the front interior purlin and the inward-curving bracket arm under the front eave also employ early timber construction techniques. The column bases of the ancestral hall are all made in the style of wooden sleeve, low-covered-bowl, eight-sided pedestals. There are often slight variations in the shape of each column base, possibly due to multiple restorations and replacements. Their stylistic features represent no later than the Hongwu to Yongle periods of the Ming Dynasty.”

The column bases of the entrance hall are the oldest and most significant components of this architectural complex. Unlike the granite used for the ancestral hall’s column bases, the stone used here is bean-green stone—not only fine and smooth in texture, but also dense, hard, and highly durable. Its shape is that of a wooden sleeve, upturned-lip, flat-covered-bowl, eight-sided pedestal, which displays typical early characteristics and aligns completely with the conclusion that the village was first built in the early Yuan Dynasty, giving it high cultural heritage value.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units