Ancient Architectural Complex of Liukeng Village

Ancient Architectural Complex of Liukeng Village

The Ancient Architectural Complex of Liukeng Village is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Liukeng Village has an ancient and glorious history along with a highly developed civilization. The village was established during the Shengyuan era of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties period (937–943), initially belonging to Yongfeng County in Jizhou, and was later transferred to Lian'an County in Fuzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty. It has a history of over a thousand years. The majority of the villagers bear the Dong surname, making it a single-surname clan settlement inhabited by the Dong family. The Dong family reveres Dong Zhongshu, the great Confucian scholar of the Western Han Dynasty, as their founding ancestor, and also recognizes Dong Jin, a chancellor of the Tang Dynasty, as one of their forebears. According to the family genealogy, Dong Jin’s grandson, Dong Qingran, migrated from Anhui to Yihuang County in Fuzhou, Jiangxi during the chaos of the late Tang Dynasty. His great-grandson, Dong He, later moved to Liukeng and settled there, becoming the founding ancestor of the village. The Song Dynasty was one of the most glorious periods in Liukeng’s history. The Dong family valued literature and education, and rose to prominence through imperial examinations, becoming a typical example of a prominent clan settlement in the Jiangnan region. At that time, it was praised as “a family with five imperial scholars, four ministers across two dynasties, top scholars in both civil and military fields, and countless scholars,” and was also known as the “Renowned Land of Ouyang (Ouyang Xiu) and Dong (the Dong family of Liukeng).” In the Yuan Dynasty, the village suffered destruction due to war. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, enlightened members of the village carried on the family legacy, promoted education, compiled genealogies, built ancestral halls, and developed the bamboo and timber trade, bringing prosperity back to Liukeng.

From the early Song Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, village schools and academies were continually established. In the Ming Dynasty’s Wanli era, there were 26 such institutions, increasing to 28 by the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty. The village produced one literary and one military top scholar, 34 imperial scholars, and 78 successful candidates in the provincial examinations. Over a hundred individuals entered official careers, ranging from high-ranking positions such as Vice Chancellor and Minister to lower offices like Clerk and Instructor. Jiangxi Province has only four villages with more than 30 imperial scholars, and Liukeng is the only one where cultural relics and historical sites are so well-preserved—an extraordinary achievement. The Ming Dynasty traveler Xu Xiake once visited Liukeng and praised: “Here, markets sprawl in all directions, making it a town of ten thousand households, and the Dong family is the most prominent clan, with the Five Laurels Archway standing there.” (See Page 147 of Xu Xiake’s Travels, Shanghai Guji Publishing House edition.) The “Five Laurels Archway” mentioned here was built to commemorate the remarkable event in the first year of the Jingyou era (1034) of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, when five members of the Dong family passed the imperial examination simultaneously. The “Five Laurels Flourishing Together” was a rare historic honor. For nearly a thousand years, Liukeng has been unparalleled in Jiangxi—and rare throughout China—in terms of the prosperity of its imperial examinations, the number of officials it produced, the nobility of its titles, the wealth from commerce, the completeness of its architecture, the beauty of its artistry, the scale of its clan, and the longevity of its heritage.

Liukeng Village is a microcosm of China’s feudal patriarchal society. Over the course of more than a thousand years, the Dong family of Liukeng relied on a strict feudal clan system to unite the clan, maintain order, and achieve stable development. Vestiges of feudal clan activities are visible everywhere in the village, especially the numerous versions of genealogical records and the ancestral halls scattered throughout the lanes—rare cultural landscapes. Currently, three genealogical volumes from the tenth year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty are still preserved, along with over 20 versions of genealogies from various branches during the Qing Dynasty, and 58 various ancestral temples and halls. The ruins of the Grand Ancestral Hall are particularly striking: five granite pillars, each eight meters tall and 0.7 meters in diameter, stand proudly under the sky and are referred to as Liukeng’s “Old Summer Palace.”

Liukeng is renowned for its grand traditional architecture and uniquely styled village layout. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, under the planning and construction of the clan, the village formed a pattern of seven horizontal (east-west) and one vertical (north-south) streets, with clan members living in lanes according to their branch lineages. Each lane was equipped with a gate tower, and the towers were connected by surrounding village walls. The lanes were paved with cobblestones and featured well-designed drainage systems. The village currently has over 260 Ming and Qing Dynasty ancient buildings and ruins, including 19 from the Ming Dynasty, as well as 18 important architectural complexes, 14 cultural buildings such as study halls, 5 archways, 48 ancestral halls, and 8 temples. Additionally, there are 32 other structures such as ancient wells, wind and rain shelters, docks, old bridges, ancient tombs, and ruins of pagodas. The ancient buildings in the village are all brick-and-wood structures, typically one and a half stories high, often laid out as two-courtyard, one-skywell units. They are simple and unadorned in form but feature exquisitely crafted decorations, integrating wood, brick, and stone carvings (engravings) with painted designs and ink artwork, showcasing exceptional craftsmanship. The brick-carved murals of “Bird (Noble Rank), Deer (Official Salary), Bee (Enfeoffment), and Monkey (Marquis)” in the Huide Hall from the Ming Dynasty and the “Qilin Gazing at the Sun” relief embedded in the screen wall of the Yongxiang Hall are masterpieces. Hundreds of houses feature plaques in their halls, couplets by their doors, and inscribed tablets and nameplates on door lintels and walls, totaling 682 pieces (locations). These plaques and couplets all have historical significance, rich connotations, and profound meanings—some reflect the owners’ backgrounds, some display family glory, some embody Confucian moral ideals, and some depict the harmonious ideal of “unity between man and nature.” The ancient architecture of Liukeng Village carries strong local characteristics, representing the typical style and features of Jiangxi Gan-style residences. Covering an area of nearly 70,000 square meters, it remains largely intact, with complete complexes and traditional street scenes, offering high historical, humanistic, scientific, environmental, and architectural artistic value.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units