Yuling Mountain Villa and Yunting Pavilion

Yuling Mountain Villa and Yunting Pavilion

Yuling Mountain Villa and Yunting Pavilion are listed as Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.

Yuling Mountain Villa and Yunting Pavilion

In Aixi Chen Village, about one kilometer north of the Fu River in Jiaqiao Town, Jinxian County, Jiangxi Province, lies a cultural estate dedicated to reading and book collecting. It’s quite something, not just in Jiangxi, but across the Jiangnan region and even all of China.

Aixi Chen Village has a history of 550 years. Since the sixth year of the Ming Emperor Yingzong (1457), when the founding ancestor of the Chen family, Xiao Shui Gong, established the “Yimen Shijia” Archway, the village has been rooted in hard work and scholarly pursuit, fostering a flourishing culture and producing many talented individuals. In the 44th year of the Jiajing reign, Chen Dong from the village achieved the third place in the top imperial examination tier (Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, Tanhua – Tanhua being third) and became a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), after which the Chen family flourished rapidly. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the village produced a total of 10 Jinshi scholars. As a result, both the economy and culture advanced in tandem, and villagers competed to build houses. Among the scholars was an unspoken rivalry — a contest between material prosperity upon returning home in glory and cultural enlightenment. The village still preserves nearly 10,000 square meters of Ming and Qing architecture across 46 buildings, along with as many as 23 plaques, exuding a strong cultural flavor of the late feudal society. Among them, the East Manor “Zhongxian Mansion · Yunting Pavilion” and the West Manor “Yuwang Censhan Villa” form an architectural art heritage left behind by feudal officials in the late Qing Dynasty vying with one another.

“Yuling Mountain Villa” and “Yunting Pavilion” are Ming and Qing dynasty official manors. “Yuling Mountain Villa,” the West Manor, includes spaces such as the “Zhi Jing Shi” (Classic Studies Room), “Bao Jian Lu” (Treasure Simplicity Cottage), “Huan Du Lou” (Return-to-Reading Tower), “Lian Chun Ge” (Spring-Loving Pavilion), “Mo Yan Shan Fang” (Inkstone-Grinding Study), and “Jie Xin Wu” (Pure Fragrance Room). Recreational areas were also built, including the “Han Chun Chi” (Spring-Embracing Pond), “Gui Hua Lin” (Osmanthus Grove), and “Qi Yi Lang” (Leisure Corridor). “Yunting Pavilion,” the East Manor, is the earliest known villa in China to date. Its entrance façade, the “Yunting Pavilion” gate hood, features exquisitely carved relief work with seven tiers of openwork featuring 72 figures, 36 pavilions and towers, complemented by landscapes, flowers, birds, and animals — all lifelike and breathtaking, truly awe-inspiring. It showcases the rich diversity of Jiangxi’s historical folklore and the profound breadth of Chinese historical culture.

Yuwang Censhan Villa covers an area of 4,356 square meters. It was meticulously constructed in the first year of the Guangxu reign during the Qing Dynasty (1875) by Chen Zhiji, a Jinshi scholar who served as magistrate of Jiangyou County in Sichuan Province and later rose to the position of Shujishi in the Hanlin Academy. The villa faces due south without deviation. Its layout is roughly square, enclosed by 3.2-meter-high brick walls, originally with six gates around the perimeter. The main gate was an octagonal pavilion-style structure, which before the Cultural Revolution displayed a camphorwood-carved horizontal plaque in raised regular script reading “Yuwang Censhan Villa.” The main gate was located on the eastern side of the southern wall; today only a small redstone plaque labeled “Yuwang Censhan Villa” remains on the side gate. The villa is divided into eastern and western sections. Entering through the main gate leads to the front courtyard, over 600 square meters paved with redstone. In the center of the courtyard, running from east to west, are row houses. The two main houses feature plaques embedded in their lintels made of bluestone, inscribed with “Yi Jing Shi” (Heritage Scripture Room) and “Bao Jian Lu” (Treasure Simplicity Cottage). To the west lies a long, narrow wing house called “Huan Du Lou” (Return-to-Reading Tower). The “Yi Jing Shi” and “Bao Jian Lu” share identical internal and external structures and materials, both standing 7.2 meters tall (in line with the Jiangxi architectural custom that “a house’s height should never deviate from six”), totaling exactly 2.16 zhang (approximately 7.2 meters). Both houses have two courtyards and three rooms aligned in a row, with inner side frames shaped like two half-person gables and upright round-log columns made of raw fir. Rainwater from the two courtyards converges in the center and drains through the corners into hidden drainage channels, with ceramic water-collection jars placed in the middle. The stone column bases, partition walls on either side of the courtyards, and the hidden drainage ditches are all adorned with floral carvings. The wood carvings in the two houses represent the carving artistry level of the Jiangxi region in the late Qing Dynasty. The carvings are primarily found around the four courtyards and the eight front and four rear lattice doors. Techniques include relief, openwork, and pierced carving, with motifs such as landscapes, flowers, birds, figures, and stories — for example, “King Wen Visits a Sage,” “The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea,” “Sealed Marquis Across Ten Thousand Li,” “Kuanglu Flying Springs,” “Golden Rooster Announces Dawn,” and “Xiping Morning Ferry.” The layout of the carvings is symmetrical yet varied, with delicate craftsmanship and smooth lines. Though the carvings in both houses follow the same arrangement, their content differs. One common feature is the bat carvings on the window lattices on either side of the courtyards — 180 bats per house, totaling 360 bats, symbolizing 360 degrees. Every building in the estate faces due south without deviation, reflecting the owner’s emphasis on feng shui in residential design. Behind the “Yi Jing Shi,” “Bao Jian Lu,” and “Huan Du Lou” row houses was once a backyard along with a large kitchen and utility rooms, all demolished not long after the liberation.

The western section of Yuwang Censhan Villa also has a redstone courtyard at the front, slightly larger than that of the eastern section, though now heavily damaged. At the far west lies the 418-square-meter “Mo Yan Shan Fang” (Inkstone-Grinding Study), with exterior wall height matching the row houses in the eastern section. It originally had three courtyards, but the rear courtyard no longer exists. The interior houses various forms of wood carvings, though not as exquisite as those in the “Bao Jian Lu” and “Yi Jing Shi.” The back wall of the “Mo Yan Shan Fang” features an embedded plaque labeled “Jie Xin Wu” (Pure Fragrance Room), the space where the original owner took baths. To the east of the “Mo Yan Shan Fang” is a pond covering 170 square meters and 1.7 meters deep, encircled by stone walls with railings. On the northern railing is a stone plaque labeled “Han Chun Chi” (Spring-Embracing Pond). The pond is surrounded by osmanthus trees on its eastern, northern, and southern sides. In August, the fragrance of osmanthus filled the air, while fish swam joyfully in the pond — a scene that lasted until the land reform of 1950. During the Japanese invasion, the invaders left behind scars on the railings of the “Han Chun Chi” with their bayonets. Between the western side of the “Han Chun Chi” and the “Mo Yan Shan Fang” lies a 40-meter-long, 2-meter-wide passageway, once covered by a corridor providing shade and shelter from rain, now reduced to stone column bases. At the northern end of the corridor was the boundary stone of the manor. To the north of the “Han Chun Chi” lies the “Lian Chun Ge” (Spring-Loving Pavilion”), a building that is shallower in depth but wider in facade, differing in style from the other buildings in the estate. Legend says the “Lian Chun Ge” was where the feudal official Chen Zhiji kept his concubine. After tiring or growing weary of studying and writing, he could enjoy time with a beloved woman, then go to the “Han Chun Chi” to watch the fish or enjoy the fragrance of the osmanthus grove — I imagine even Magistrate Chen would be overjoyed. No wonder he lived to over 90, passing away just before the outbreak of the War of Resistance. In 1940, a Japanese company commander also stayed in the “Lian Chun Ge” to enjoy his privileged life. The dark side of humanity, regardless of nationality, can emerge under certain conditions. The “Lian Chun Ge” is a two-story hall building. To facilitate rendezvous with his “little sweetheart,” the upper floor has corridors for easy movement, connecting to the east-side “Huan Du Lou,” “Bao Jian Lu,” and “Yi Jing Shi,” as well as to the west-side “Mo Yan Shan Fang” via the upper floor. On the west corridor wall leading to the “Mo Yan Shan Fang,” there is a side door with an inscription above the lintel that reads “E Hui Yin Xie” (Parasol Petal Poetry Pavilion). Even his private quarters had a touch of refined taste.

Jiaqiao Town: Under the jurisdiction of Jinxian County, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, Jiaqiao was upgraded from a township to a town in 1996. Since the reform and opening up, the town's economy has developed rapidly, villages and towns have transformed day by day, and society has become harmonious and civilized. In 2005, the local GDP reached 277.95 million yuan, the total industrial and agricultural output value was 270 million yuan, and the per capita net income of farmers was 3,317 yuan.

Geographic Location

Jiaqiao Town is situated on the Gan-Fu Plain, in the northwest of Jinxian County. To the east it borders Qinglan Lake and faces Luoxi Town of the same county; to the south it adjoins Quanling Township; to the west it is separated from Xiangtang Town of Nanchang County by the Fu River; to the north it neighbors Nanchang County… More details about Jiaqiao Town++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level