Shi Qiaoliang

Shiqiaoliang

About 30 kilometers north of Guangning County lies Shiqiaoliang Village, under the Dalian Village Committee in Jiatun Town. The village has 66 households and a population of 268. Villagers mainly engage in farming, breeding, and processing. The main structure in the village, Fulongli, is known as the "bat hanging flower basket." The Hakka-style Shiqiaoliang Village, with its ancient charm, is surrounded by lush bamboo and trees and boasts beautiful scenery.

Origin of the Ancient Village’s Name

The Fulongli Mansion is known as the "bat hanging flower basket"

The Fulongli Mansion exhibits typical local characteristics. Along its central longitudinal axis, there are three halls: front, middle, and rear, each separated by a courtyard. Flanking the halls are smaller rooms, wing rooms, suites, watchtowers, and lookout towers. In front of the main gate lies an 800-square-meter square, with gate towers on either side. A three-meter-high wall surrounds the square, beyond which lies a crescent-shaped pond with granite slab paving along its base, giving the entire structure the appearance of a flower basket. From a feng shui perspective, the location of Fulongli is considered a "bat (fortune) land," hence the entire mansion is called the "bat (fortune) hanging flower basket."

A Brief Study of the Jiang Clan’s Ancestral Hall Name

The Hakka mansion Fulongli in Shiqiaoliang is currently inhabited by descendants of the Jiang family. The Jiang clan has three ancestral hall names: "Jiyang Hall," "Huaiyang Hall," and "Liugui Hall." Fulongli’s ancestral hall name is "Huaiyang Hall."

According to historical records, the Jiang clan was originally surnamed Ying. The "Genealogy of Surnames" states: "The Ying clan, descendants of Bo Yi, were enfeoffed at Jiangling, and their descendants took the state name as their surname." The "Genealogy Compilation" records: "The Ying clan, descendants of Bo Yi, the great-grandson of Zhuanxu, were enfeoffed as lords of Jiang. Later, their state was destroyed by Chu, and they adopted the state name as their surname." The founding ancestor of the Jiang clan, Yuanzhong, also known as Sicheng, was the youngest son of Bo Yi. He served as the Minister of Justice (judicial officer) during the Xia Dynasty. Due to his loyalty and dedication, he was granted imperial favor, and his descendants inherited the enfeoffment of Jiang, with their fief located in the region of Zhengyang, at the border of present-day Henan and Hubei. By the 31st generation descendant, Jiang Ji, styled Xiong略, who assisted King Wu of Zhou in overthrowing the Shang Dynasty, he was enfeoffed as the Duke of Eastern Jin and also as the Duke of Jiang. At that time, it was customary to adopt place names as state names and state names as surnames. "Ji's fief was in Zhengyang, where the Jiang State was initially established, and from then on, the Jiang surname originated here."

To honor Jiang Ji’s foundational and enduring contributions, his descendants combined his personal name with the name of his fief, logically adopting "Jiyang" as the ancestral hall name for the Jiang clan.

After the Jiang State was destroyed by the Chu State in 623 BC, its people adopted the state name "Jiang" as their surname. Some moved north to Huaiyang (present-day Henan), then further north to Chenliu Yuxian (present-day Qixian Yuzhen, Henan), later migrating to Jiyang Kaicheng (present-day Lankao, Henan). Others fled to Qi (present-day Linzi, Shandong), Lingyang (northeastern Shexian, Anhui), and Yunyang. The Jiang descendants who moved north to Huaiyang adopted "Huaiyang" as their ancestral hall name.

During the Tang Dynasty, the Jiang clan had spread throughout northern China. The southward migration of the Jiang clan began in the early Tang period. After the Anshi Rebellion, the Jiang clan migrated en masse to the south. By the early Song Dynasty, the southern Jiang clan had grown significantly, leading to the emergence of the "Liugui" ancestral hall name. This is another origin story of the Jiang clan, which claims that the Jiang clan was a branch of the Weng clan. In the early Song Dynasty, Weng Qiandu from Quanzhou, Fujian, had six sons, each taking one of six surnames: Hong, Weng, Jiang, Fang, Gong, and Wang. The second son, Chugong, took the surname Jiang, and his descendants also bore the Jiang surname. The six brothers all passed the imperial examinations together and were praised as the "Six Osmanthus Fragrances United in Glory." As a result, some Jiang descendants also adopted "Liugui" as their ancestral hall name.

In 1959, Taiwan published the "Liugui Hall Genealogy," compiled by the Taipei Liugui Clan Association, which systematically documented the joint clan activities of the six surnames—Weng, Hong, Jiang, Fang, Gong, and Wang—in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

Architectural Style

"Fulongli" is the representative work of the Hakka mansions in Shiqiaoliang Village. The Hakka mansion "Fulongli" was built in the 17th year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1837) by Jiang Minglan, who settled in the area at the time. The mansion’s owner, Jiang Minglan, achieved the status of a military juren (successful candidate in the imperial military examination), his son Jiang Rihua became a civil juren, and his descendant Jiang Guoguang was a revolutionary martyr. The Jiatun Mansion is known as the former residence of a literary and military juren. On July 4, 2005, the Guangning County Government designated the "Fulongli" Hakka mansion as part of the third batch of cultural heritage protection units in Guangning County.

Unlike the circular layouts of Hakka mansions in Meizhou, Guangdong, and southern Fujian, "Fulongli" combines the style of ancient Lingnan architecture with distinctive local features. Modeled after the traditional northern siheyuan (courtyard house) layout, Fulongli covers an area of over 2,090 square meters, with the main structures aligned along the central axis and secondary buildings symmetrically arranged on both sides. The mansion is built with brick and wood, resting on stone foundations and walls made of rammed earth (a mixture of lime, mud, and sand). It features thick, tightly packed walls constructed from mud bricks, blue bricks, and pebbles, making them as solid as fortresses.

The outer top of the mansion’s enclosing wall is topped with parapets. The four corner eaves are adorned with blue brickwork or pine wood frameworks forming layered diamond-shaped patterns. The tops of the watchtowers and lookout towers feature "pot-ear" gables, with window lattice-style decorative brackets on either side.

The columns, pottery sculptures, murals, and reliefs inside and outside Fulongli Mansion showcase exquisite craftsmanship. The inner and outer walls of the mansion, as well as the undersides of bracket arms and eaves, are painted with murals. These murals depict a rich variety of subjects, including historical figures, flowers, birds, insects, fish, forests, and flowing water, often accompanied by poetic inscriptions. The reliefs feature a wide range of themes, with intricately carved figures that are vivid and lifelike. Examples include the Nine Lions and the Peach Blossom Spring designs at Jiatun Fulongli. These reliefs and murals have retained their vibrant colors remarkably well despite over a century of weathering.

The columns, eaves, lintels, doors, screens, and windows of the mansion are all intricately carved, complementing the murals and reliefs. Among these, the interior decorations of the side halls are particularly luxurious and ornate, even incorporating gold and jade inlays. The wooden ceiling panels and column carvings in the side halls depict a myriad of subjects—from creatures flying in the sky and running on the ground to those swimming in water—including phoenixes, mountain sparrows, swallows, eagles, grass carp, koi, plum blossoms, bamboo, orchids, bananas, pines, and firs. All of these carvings are adorned with gleaming gold leaf, creating a truly resplendent effect.