Zhangjiajie Old Courtyard

Zhangjiajie Old Courtyard

Zhangjiajie Old Courtyard is a cultural relic protection unit of Hunan Province.

Situated 200 meters east of Lusiwan Bridge on Yongding Avenue in downtown Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, at the entrance of the Changsha-Zhangjiajie Expressway, Zhangjiajie Old Courtyard is easily accessible via buses No. 1, 2, 7, and 9. Originally built in the early years of Emperor Yongzheng’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, the courtyard is an example of the distinctive Tujia architectural style featuring a four-well fire-wall design. It combines Tujia gardens and hanging houses, representing a typical dwelling of the indigenous Tujia (Bizi Ka) people. As one of the few well-preserved ancient Tujia residences in western Hunan and even across China, it is hailed as a "living fossil" of Tujia architecture and is known as the "Foremost Tujia Residence." The former Premier of China studied here.

The Old Courtyard was the ancestral home of the Tian family. Tian Chengman, an ancestor of the Tian clan, served as Grand Tutor, Grand Guardian, and Grand Preceptor during the Northern Song Dynasty—some of the highest official ranks—and once governed the various Tujia chieftains of western Hunan on behalf of the imperial court. Tian Qicui, one of the last descendants of the Old Courtyard, was a renowned geologist of New China and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Old Courtyard has been home to generations of scholars, producing exceptional individuals and embodying a rare family legend in history...

Visiting the Old Courtyard allows you to experience the unique production and lifestyle of the once considered “barbaric” mountainous regions. It tells the legendary story of eight generations of scholarly families, revealing the true essence behind the sustainable emergence of talent. The courtyard houses rare treasures and numerous unsolved mysteries. Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, and mystical cultures converge, blend, and integrate here—making it a textbook that deciphers cultural diversity.

The Tujia residential culture of the Old Courtyard. The existing buildings were originally constructed during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty and underwent major renovations in the early years of Emperor Yongzheng’s reign in the Qing Dynasty. It is a classic example of Tujia architecture featuring a four-sided courtyard with firewalls. The surviving old house used a total of 820 tung wood pillars, and over 100 craftsmen spent nearly three years completing it. With three-story halls, four courtyards, a square perimeter wall, a south-facing orientation, symmetrical layout along the east-west axis, meticulous planning, and an integrated brick-and-timber structure, its unique “eight-dou skylight and seven-star canopy” design for lighting and ventilation is a masterpiece in global architectural history.

The Confucian culture of the Old Courtyard. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, specifically during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, the owners of the Old Courtyard have emphasized education. They founded the Zijing Book House in 1048 and the Tianmen Academy in 1352, which merged with Changsha Duize Academy in 1940. From the Yongzheng era to the Republican period, 43 members of the family achieved scholarly honors, two became notable generals in the Northern Expedition, and many descendants became distinguished scholars in education, science, and healthcare. The enduring prosperity and success of the Old Courtyard’s owners are inseparable from its Confucian values of “passing down poetry and books to future generations, and upholding filial piety and family values.” Notably, the former Premier of China and academician Tian Qicui both hailed from this esteemed lineage.

The traditional culinary culture of the Old Courtyard. The Tian family of the Old Courtyard migrated from Chongqing and held official positions in the imperial court for generations. The cuisine of western Hunan is characterized by its methods of roasting, boiling, frying, deep-frying, stir-frying, pickling, and fermenting, incorporating flavors from Beijing, Sichuan, and Hunan cuisines—all of which are inseparably linked to the Tian family of the Old Courtyard.

The Taoist and geomantic culture of the Old Courtyard. If we compare downtown Zhangjiajie to a large Tai Chi symbol, then the Li River serves as the “S” curve in the center. The Old Courtyard lies on the yang side of the Tai Chi, with a “golden basin expanding eastward,” “Tai Chi encircling westward,” “a brush formation opening southward,” and “official sedan chairs rising northward”—a true reflection of its feng shui.

The collection culture of the Old Courtyard. The Old Courtyard houses a wide variety of collections, including ceramics, antique beds, bronze ware, silverware, linen, calligraphy, and paintings—14,370 pieces of significant value in the collector’s world, with a total estimated worth of 1 billion RMB. The 1,037-year-old Tujia residential architecture, the deeply rooted Confucian culture passed through generations, the western Hunan Tujia cuisine that blends the best of Beijing, Sichuan, and Hunan flavors, the expansive Taoist and geomantic cultural heritage, and the dedicated collecting tradition of each generation of the Old Courtyard’s stewards all bear witness to and bless the courtyard’s enduring history and brilliant future.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units in Hunan Province