Xicun (Number One Scholar Village)

Xicun (Number One Scholar Village)

Located in Heerkou Town, Xicun is the hometown of Mo Xuanqing, the first scholar from Lingnan to top the imperial examinations. The village boasts the renowned Scholar Shrine, while just outside lies the Longshan Scenic Area, often dubbed “Little Guilin,” which attracts a constant stream of visitors from afar.

Mo Xuanqing, courtesy name Zhongjie, was born in the eighth year of the Dazhong era (834 AD) during the reign of Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty, and topped the imperial examinations in the fifth year of the Dazhong era under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (851 AD), becoming the first scholar from Lingnan and also the youngest top scholar in the country at the age of seventeen. On the seventeenth day of the eighth lunar month each year, the anniversary of Mo Xuanqing’s birth, thousands of his descendants from both China and abroad, as well as local residents and tourists, come with their families to pay homage at the Scholar Shrine and his tomb, creating a grand and bustling scene.