The Ancient Residential Complexes of Jiangtou Village and Changgangling Village

The Ancient Residential Complexes of Jiangtou Village and Changgangling Village

The ancient residential complexes of Jiangtou Village and Changgangling Village are listed as Major National Historical and Cultural Sites.

The ancient residential complexes of Jiangtou Village and Changgangling Village are located in Lingchuan County, Guilin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

These two villages developed architectural ensembles including residences, ancestral halls, memorial archways, lanes, and tombs of historical, artistic, and scientific value as early as the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Jiangtou Village complex is located in Jiangtou Village, Qingshitan Town, Lingchuan County, Guilin, on the western bank of the Gan Tang River, a tributary of the upper Li River. Surrounded by mountains and water, the village features ancestral halls and most dwellings facing eastward from a westward orientation. From a modern architectural perspective, the layout and direction are notably grand. With a history of over 1,000 years, the village is the settlement of descendants of the renowned Northern Song Dynasty philosopher and founder of Neo-Confucianism, Zhou Dunyi. The Zhou family relocated here during the Ming Dynasty, and after the Qing Qianlong era, the Zhou clan of Jiangtou Village produced seven Hanlin scholars, eight jinshi (advanced scholars), 25 juren (presented scholars), and 170 xiucai (licentiates), marking an extraordinary scholarly achievement. The overall architecture of the village also reflects a modest and unadorned style embodying the principle of “emerging unstained from the mud.” Jiangtou Village boasts a long history, with a comprehensive range of well-preserved ancient residential buildings on a grand scale. It retains the only intact cluster in Guangxi of mid-to-late Ming, early-to-mid-late Qing, and Republican-era residences. Today, over 100 Ming and Qing dynasty structures once inhabited by the Jiangtou Zhou clan remain. Their color schemes, carvings, and layouts reflect Zhou Dunyi’s Neo-Confucian culture, exhibiting distinct cultural characteristics. The village preserves more than 180 residences comprising over 620 rooms, over 60% of which date from the Ming and Qing periods. Ming-era houses feature a post-and-lintel structure with screen walls and lower ceilings. Qing-era houses (the main body of the complex) are built with blue brick walls up to the roof, diverse gable designs, and are tall and spacious. Beams, pillars, brackets, and eaves in various homes are adorned with carvings of auspicious motifs such as dragons, phoenixes, deer, and lotuses, avoiding ostentation. Since the Qianlong era, Jiangtou Village has produced many successful examination candidates. A total of 168 villagers served as officials, including four first-rank, four second-rank, and 37 fifth-rank or higher officials. The villagers were diligent in their studies and clean in office, earning the village the reputations of the “Village of Scholars” and the “Village of Upright Officials.”

Changgangling Village is located at the midpoint of the ancient trade route from Xing’an’s Lingqu Canal to Guilin and Daxu, earning it the nickname “Little Nanjing.” Residents of the Chen, Mo, and Liu families leveraged the village’s geographical advantages to thrive in commerce, becoming one of the wealthiest villages in the Guilin area during the Qing Dynasty and Republican period. The ancient residences here boast the greatest span, height, and width among Guilin’s vernacular architecture. The stone carvings in its ancient tombs are exceptionally luxurious and imposing, and the ancient commercial roads are deep and well-preserved, ranking among the best in Guilin—so much so that later generations said, “Before there was the Jingjiang King’s Tomb, there was Changgang’s ancient tomb.” To this day, the village retains the nine-bay Chen Family Courtyard from the early Qing Dynasty, the 11-bay Mo Family Old Courtyard, and the 10-bay Mo Family New Courtyard, as well as other historic mansions such as the Wufu Hall, the Mo Ancestral Hall, the Weishou Mansion official hall, the “Da Fu Mansion,” and the “Bie Jia Mansion.” The courtyards are grand, spacious, and brightly lit, with exquisitely carved windows and lattice doors, and both courtyards and lanes paved with bluestone slabs. Flanking the main houses are slightly lower wing rooms for servants, reflecting a strict social hierarchy. These ancient residential complexes exhibit various structural styles, including post-and-lintel, dougong (bracket sets), caisson ceilings, and more. Two ancient stages, one ancestral hall, official halls, and public halls (also called ancestral halls) are all built with blue bricks and tiles. Architectural forms include hip-and-gable roofs, flush-gable roofs, and upturned eaves in diverse shapes—truly rare sights. Coupled with the ancient, serene roads and the opulent grandeur of the tombs, it is a commercial ancient village that blends natural and cultural landscapes.

In 2006, the ancient residential complexes of Jiangtou Village and Changgangling Village were designated as part of the sixth group of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites by the State Council, recognized as structures dating from the Ming Dynasty to the Republican era.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites