Liu Family Courtyard

Liu Family Courtyard

The Liu Family Courtyard is located in Liangshuitun, about 1.5 kilometers southwest of Zhue Village, X’e Township, Liuzhou City. It was built in 1892, the 18th year of the Guangxu reign during the Qing Dynasty, by Liu Huaqiong, an official titled Fengzheng Dafu, and is a brick-and-timber structure. With a gable roof covered in gray clay tiles, the courtyard faces southeast and sits northwest, covering an area of over 1,400 square meters. It is a traditional dwelling of the Hakka people. The front of the house has three gates — a main gate flanked by one side gate on each side, each of which connects to two east-west side rooms. There are 32 rooms in total, including nine halls and six courtyards, with winding corridors. Along the central axis from southeast to northwest are the upper, middle, and lower halls, with wing rooms on either side. At the back corners of the courtyard stand three three-story brick-and-tile watchtowers with carved decorations. The walls are constructed from a mixture of lime, river sand, and sugar oil, 30–32 centimeters thick, making them very solid, and the floors are paved with blue bricks. The upper, middle, and lower halls, as well as the main gate, originally featured wooden plaques with inscriptions. Sixteen round wooden pillars with a diameter of about 35 centimeters support the areas on both sides of the gate and the middle sections of the middle and lower halls. The screen boards between the pillars in the middle and lower halls are adorned with intricately carved lattice windows. The front eaves of the middle hall are in an arched shape, and the eaves of the courtyard are also decorated with fine carvings. It is one of the better-preserved ancient residential buildings in Liuzhou City. In 1996, it was designated as a municipal cultural heritage site of Liuzhou.