Nanzhang Mountain Villages Cluster

Nanzhang Mountain Villages Cluster

The Nanzhang Mountain Villages Cluster is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Nanzhang Mountain Villages Cluster is typified by six representative mountain villages: Woniu Mountain Village, Chunqiu Village, Fanjia Village, Qinglong Village, Jianfengling Village, and Zhangjia Village. Nestled against the mountains and built to scale, these villages feature grand structures and unique architecture. Constructed in different eras, each village boasts its own distinctive characteristics.

Woniu Mountain Village is located in Group 1 of Guizhuyuan Village, Donggong Town (formerly Tuan Shan Temple Village). The village walls follow the contours of the mountain, stretching from north to south across three peaks, with a total perimeter of 4,181 meters. The walls include defensive features such as horse paths, pedestrian walkways, watchtowers, gates, battlements, gun emplacements, observation platforms, and shelters. Inside the village, there are 375 stone houses and temples built in various eras. The settlement also contains military facilities such as training grounds, horse racing fields, drill yards, and general platforms, along with cultural relics like inscribed stelae and stone carvings from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Chunqiu Village is located in Group 3 of Lüping Village, Donggong Town. Built along the mountain slope, it features a linear layout stretching from south to north. The village wall spans 1,150 meters in circumference, with a length of 490 meters from north to south and a width of 30–50 meters from east to west, covering an area of 24,500 square meters and a built-up area of 9,500 square meters. It includes 153 stone houses. The village is surrounded on its eastern, western, and northern sides by the Maoping River, with steep cliffs along the riverbanks forming a naturally formidable defensive barrier.

Qinglong Village was first built in the first year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1796). Together with the adjacent Huangjia Village, Jianzi Village, and Wufeng Village, Qinglong Village forms a defensive system in the southeast. The village winds up the mountain, measuring 127 meters in length from east to west and 20–40 meters in width from north to south, with an area of 3,810 square meters. It has an eastern gate and a western gate. Inside, there are 32 stone houses covering a built-up area of 680 square meters. Each house is equipped with observation windows or firing holes.

Fanjia Village is situated atop a peak in the north of Shuanglong Temple Village, in a relatively precipitous location. It is a stone-built castle-style structure, oriented west to east with a rectangular layout, and consists of an inner city and an outer city. The inner city measures 79.40 meters in width and 36.50 meters in depth, covering an area of 5,160 square meters with a built-up area of 560 square meters. It has eastern and western gates, each topped with a gatehouse, and fortified towers at the southern and northern corners on the front side. The outer city stretches 102 meters from north to south and 68 meters from east to west, with parts of the walls still well preserved.

Jianfengling Village is located at the summit of Songhua Mountain in Baishugang Village, Xiaozhan Town. It currently has over 1,880 meters of village walls and more than 160 remaining stone houses, covering a total area of 33,700 square meters.

Zhangjia Village is located in Group 4 of Shangquanping Village, Donggong Town, and was first built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The village is built along a mountain ridge, measuring 642.50 meters in length from east to west and 20–25 meters in width from north to south, with an area of 8,487.5 square meters. The village wall is 1,352 meters in circumference, with a width of 0.8–3 meters. The village is large in scale, with well-preserved buildings, including 151 remaining stone houses covering a built-up area of 4,500 square meters. The eastern and western gates are topped with gatehouses. The houses are aligned from east to west in a row along the mountain ridge.

All the villages in the Nanzhang Mountain Villages Cluster were defensive fortifications built by local residents during the Ming and Qing periods for self-protection. These villages feature stone-structured walls and houses, with a significant number well preserved, making them highly valuable for the study of Ming and Qing history.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units