Ancient Residential Houses of Chongshan Village

Ancient Residential Houses of Chongshan Village

Chongshan Village, located about 20 kilometers northeast of Yongfu County, has been rich in cultural heritage and talent for centuries, earning the reputation of “three successful imperial examinees in one family, five scholarly achievements across two generations.” The Li family in the village is a well-known group of painters nationwide, often referred to as “a forest of paintbrushes.” Li Jishou, a renowned Qing Dynasty painter, was distinctive for his ink plum blossom paintings and honored as the “Master of Plum Blossoms.” Chongshan Village in Luojin Town, Yongfu County, was included in the first batch of Guangxi’s historic and cultural villages announced by the General Office of the People's Government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Chongshantou Village is the hometown of Li Xiyuan, a painter and calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty. It was built during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty. The entire village consists of people with the surnames Li and Huang; the Lis migrated from Hubei, while the Huangs came from Henan.

The ancient residences of Chongshantou consist of the former homes of the Li family, the ancestral hall of the Li clan, and more than 20 other ancient houses.

The former residences of the Li family consist of six side-by-side households of similar size and height, all facing east with a north–south width of 600 meters and an east–west depth of about 750 meters, covering an area of approximately 50,000 square meters with a built-up area of around 300,000 square meters. The eastern section features old buildings with traditional gable-and-hip roofs, built with brick and wood structures, single-story layouts with five bays and four openings. There are six dwellings made of blue bricks and gray tiles. In the middle is an alleyway, with gated entrances at both the front and back. The six dwellings are lined on either side of the alley, each with its own gate and high courtyard, approximately 32 meters long and 16 meters wide, with an area of about 500 square meters. The walls use clear-water joints, the windows and doors feature latticework with engravings of ruyi (good fortune) and plum blossoms. The bases are stone platforms, the paths are paved with strip stones, and the courtyards are built with stone. The floors are made of rammed earth, each level slightly higher than the last. The first section features a grand entrance gate, with each door consisting of four horizontally divided bays separated by blue bricks or walls. From north to south, the second bay serves as the main hall or living room, the first and third bays as side rooms or bedrooms, and the fourth bay as the kitchen, workshop, or animal pen. The third section is the main house, with orderly arranged gable walls. Residences of notable figures feature triple-eaved firewalls, and their corridors have wooden arched roofs. The six households are interconnected via moon gates and alleys, with floors paved in bluestone slabs.

In the fields to the south of the village remains the “New Ancestral Hall” built during the Qing Dynasty, traditionally said to date back to the Qianlong era. It has small blue tiles, a hard mountain-style triangular firewall, blue brick walls, and a base constructed from dressed stone. This three-section, three-bay brick-and-wood structure building has an arched gate about six meters high, an inner courtyard, surrounding walls, side rooms on both sides, and corridors in the front and rear halls and side rooms all paved with strip stones.

From the time Li Shuqiao passed the imperial examination for scholars (juren) in 1768 during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty until 1902 when Li Zenghua did so, the Li family produced 14 juren and five tribute students (gongsheng). Five members of the family of Li Jishou, the sixth son of Li Xiyuan, all passed the examinations, earning the saying “three successful imperial examinees in one family, five scholarly achievements across two generations.” Li Xiyuan was a landscape painter and the founding master of painting in the Li family, known for his majestic and vigorous style. In 1837, he traveled from Guilin up the Li River, then the Xiang River to Changsha, onward through Yueyang and Red Cliff along the Yangtze River to Wuchang, where he created 35 paintings, each inscribed with a poem, compiling them into the album “River Journey Paintings,” a treasured work handed down through generations. The Li family has maintained a strong tradition of painting and calligraphy throughout the Qing Dynasty and held an important position in Guangxi’s art scene. Later generations of the Li family have also excelled in landscape and floral painting, producing many talents and earning the title “a forest of paintbrushes.” Influenced by their ancestors, the tradition of painting and calligraphy remains strong in the village to this day.

Location: Located east of Chongshantou Village, Luojin Township, Yongfu County, about 50 kilometers from Guilin City.

Transportation: Take a bus from Guilin Bus Terminal to Yongfu or Jiangyue, then transfer in Luojin to reach the village.

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