Haojiawan

Haojiawan

Haojiawan is a national AAA-level tourist attraction.

The Haojiawan Cultural Landscape is located in Haojiawan Village, Banqiao Miao-Tujia Ethnic Township, Sinan County. It is a natural village predominantly inhabited by the Hao family, with over 150 households, and boasts a history of nearly 600 years. Established during the Jingtai era of the Ming Dynasty, Haojiawan originated when the ancestors of the Hao clan migrated from Huanyou Town in Shandong Province to Guizhou to suppress the “Miao unrest.” They chose to settle in Banqiao for military farming and established a permanent residence, naming the place Haojiawan after their surname based on the local terrain. In the early years of the Daoguang reign during the Qing Dynasty, a descendant named Hao Chaoxiang returned to his hometown in glory after serving as a “Wenlin Lang” official in Zhenyuan Prefecture. He built his own residence according to ideal feng shui principles and organized his clansmen to meticulously construct the village in accordance with the layout of a “Bagua Formation” and feng shui standards. This effort led to the formation of the well-preserved ancient cultural landscape of Haojiawan that remains to this day. In June 1988, Haojiawan Village was designated as a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Nestled against mountains and near water, the residences in Haojiawan are mostly laid out in a regular pattern, following the contours of the land, facing south with their backs to the north—embracing yin and facing yang—to form a double-arched curve with lower front and higher back sections, and higher sides with a lower middle. The houses are built on ascending levels with multiple gates and layers, creating a well-arranged and staggered appearance. On the hillside behind the village, the Hao clan cultivated hundred-acre terraced fields, which provided a stable living for the family during the agrarian economic era. Spring water originating from underground at the mountainside flows year-round. The stream flows into a creek, which is then channeled by human hands into an approximately 800-meter-long irrigation ditch that winds through the village in an S-shape. Alongside it stand over a hundred stone-built courtyards, interconnected by crisscrossing bluestone alleys, giving the village layout the appearance of a Taiji Bagua symbol representing the harmony of yin and yang, resembling an idyllic paradise of everlasting vitality.

The Haojiawan Cultural Landscape is the result of long-term interaction between humans and nature. It records information about the local politics, economy, culture, and military, fully reflecting ancient architectural philosophies, aesthetic concepts, human-centered survival ideologies, and the characteristics of mountainous architecture. It serves as a rare physical reference for studying the historical changes, architectural technology, lifestyle arts, and military aspects of eastern Guizhou.