Ma Family Courtyard in the Southern Region

Ma Family Courtyard in the Southern Region

The Ma Family Courtyard in the Southern Region is a cultural heritage site protected by Sichuan Province.

The Ma Family Courtyard is located in Raopian Village, Sanqing Township, and was built by Ma Lixiang, the sixth son of Ma Hongyi and the Wu and Huang families. Ma Lixiang was well-read and highly skilled in martial arts. During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, he served as an official in the capital with the rank of Zongbing (a second-rank official title in the Qing Dynasty). As he was the sixth son, locals referred to him as "Sixth Master" (also known as "Ma the Young Master"), a title that has been passed down to this day. The courtyard was first built in the 21st year of the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty (1816 AD), covering a land area of 1,600 square meters with a construction area of 784 square meters. It took three years and six months to complete and is now over two hundred years old. The Ma Family Courtyard faces south and covers a land area of 1,600 square meters, with a constructed area of 784 square meters. The main building has a width of 26.4 meters and a depth of 9 meters. The left and right wing rooms are each 18.7 meters wide and 4 meters deep; the lower building is 28.1 meters wide and 6.1 meters deep. The courtyard features a strong traditional residential style of northern Sichuan, with symmetrical gates and courtyards, carved beams and painted eaves. Its corridors and staircases are elegantly arranged and ingeniously structured. The entire complex is a single-eave, hanging-roof structure covered with blue tiles, utilizing a post-and-lintel construction method. The main hall and adjacent rooms on the upper floor are single-story buildings, while the wing rooms and lower buildings consist of one story above ground and one below, featuring raised corridors. The entire courtyard is a wooden complex, with timber sourced from locally harvested nanmu and cypress trees. There are eight courtyard columns in total surrounding the yard, each with a diameter of more than 50 centimeters and a height of 10 meters—twice as large as typical columns. Each column connection is adorned with intricately carved lion-dragon heads, lifelike in appearance. The structure contains no nails or rivets at all. Instead, it relies entirely on interlocking brackets, beams, and pillars. These elements cross and connect with each other in a cohesive, sturdy manner.

The greatest value of the Ma Family Courtyard lies in its abundant wood carvings preserved in the architecture. On wooden structures such as window headers, corridor pillars, spandrels, and crossbeams, nearly a hundred patterns—including inscriptions, flowers, birds, and beasts—are carved using deep and shallow relief or openwork techniques. On the carved wooden windows of the main hall, inscriptions read “Northern Window: Martial Glory under Moonlight, Eastern Window: Civil Elegance in Breeze,” reflecting the exceptional craftsmanship of the builders. Below the windows, wooden panels feature vividly carved theatrical stories, later painted in blue, yellow, and green pigments for a dazzling effect. Sections of colored paintings still remain on the beams of the main hall’s central room, along with bas-reliefs on the shrine such as patterns of “Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl” and “Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea.” The spandrels of the beams are also decorated with bas-relief scrollwork. Pillar capitals in the corridors feature elaborately carved designs like “Auspicious Deer Holding Lingzhi,” “Golden Carp Paying Homage to the Dragon,” and “Dark Dragon Emerging from Water.” The shrine’s bas-reliefs or open-carved artworks depict dragons and phoenixes, the Eight Immortals, the God of Longevity, and floral motifs. Windows inscribed with phrases such as “Civil Elegance in Breeze” and “Martial Glory under Moonlight” demonstrate uniquely creative carving artistry. Crossbeams and transverse beams are decorated using shallow, deep, and openwork carving techniques, illustrating dozens of patterns including flowers, birds, beasts, two dragons playing with a pearl, a phoenix facing the rising sun, and scenes of fishing, woodcutting, farming, and reading. These patterns are richly layered, fluid in lines, masterfully executed, and exhibit a strong ethnic identity and regional flavor. In addition, the Ma Family Courtyard preserves seven Qing-era plaques, including inscriptions such as “European Writing, Guo’s Blessing” and “Name Engraved on Bronze Pillar.” The Ma Family Courtyard is the most complete example among the ancient residences of Nanbu County and stands as a rare cultural heritage relic among surviving historic homes.

Protective boundary: Extend 10 meters eastward to the rock face, 2 meters southward to the rock face, 15 meters westward to the drainage ditch, and 20 meters northward.