The Ancient Anyi Shidaifu Mansion

The Anyi Shidaifu Ancient Mansion

The Anyi Shidaifu Mansion is a cultural relics protection unit of Jiangxi Province.

The Shidaifu Mansion is located at Luotian Natural Village, Luotian Village Committee, Shipi Town, at the foot of Meiling on the western side of the mountains, about 10 kilometers southeast of Anyi. It was built in the year 1762 (the Xin Si year of the Qianlong reign) by Huang Xiuwen, a wealthy merchant from Luotian. In 2006, it was designated as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit.

This private residence covers an area of more than 4,400 square meters. The main structure consists of three houses, each being an individual building, yet they are built closely together in a connected row along a single axis, aligned vertically to form a structure that is three bays wide and eleven bays deep. The main building of the "Shidaifu" Mansion faces west and features an octagonal entrance gate. Directly to the north of this building is another structure composed of four ancient houses arranged in a vertical row, and even further north lies yet another set of four interconnected ancient dwellings. Together, these 11 buildings form the appearance of one massive single house.

Grand and imposing — such is the defining feature of the main gate of this ancient house. The central hall of the main building has a large span, and its wooden framework combines both the post-and-lintel and Dougong (bracket-arm) styles to create a lofty and spacious great hall. Near the courtyard, a coffered ceiling is also used to enhance the sense of space, locally referred to as a “boat-shed” ceiling. The hall contains over twenty pillars, each with intricately carved pedestals that add to the hall’s luxurious and majestic ambiance.

The carvings in the ancient house are intricate and elaborate, mainly featuring openwork carving and relief carving. Above the main hall’s entrance gate lintel are exquisite openwork high-relief carvings and a plaque inscribed with the characters “爽挹西岚” (meaning “refreshing western mist”) in red sacrificial stone. The lintel’s reliefs are divided into three tiers: the lower tier depicts a carp leaping through the Dragon Gate, the middle tier shows a top scholar riding through the streets and a qilin (mythical creature), and the upper tier portrays a phoenix facing the sun. On either side of the lintel reliefs are embedded pieces of red sacrificial stone resembling the wing-like flanges on an official’s hat. Overall, the decorations on this gate resemble an oversized official’s headpiece. The lattice window on the north side of the front hall’s courtyard is carved with scenes from the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The ancient house is built with a brick-and-wood structure. The roof combines flush gable and half-sloped roofs to form courtyards. The walls are constructed in a well-dry style, and the gable walls on both sides are built in the shape of horse-head shaped firewalls.

The Luotian “Shidaifu” Mansion is still well-preserved and quite magnificent. The mansion currently retains four lanes, eighty door sills, twenty-two courtyards, sixty rooms, eleven halls, and three passageways. Each building has complete functionality, including a schoolhouse, servants’ quarters, ancestral worship hall, banquet hall, and more. It exhibits typical characteristics of traditional rural architecture in southern China. The entire architectural layout is rational, exquisitely constructed, grand and imposing, while also retaining an air of simplicity and antiquity.