Qian Guang Lou

Qian Guang Lou

Qian Guang Lou is located in Xingjing Village, Linzhai Town, Heping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. It is one of the main ancient buildings in the historic Linzhai Ancient Village complex in Heyuan. Constructed in the 6th year of the Republic of China (1920) by Chen Buqu (courtesy name Yunting, a military commander of the Guangxi Clique), the building covers an area of approximately 2,700 square meters and housed over 100 residents including masters and servants before the Land Reform Movement. In the winter of 1952, as the Land Reform Movement gained momentum, Qian Guang Lou was redistributed to a group of poor and lower-middle peasants for residence. After the reform and opening-up period, most of those former residents moved elsewhere, leaving only five households still living there today.

The layout of Qian Guang Lou is rectangular, with watchtowers built at each of its four corners. The first section is a three-story Western-style corridor building, while the second, third, and fourth sections follow a traditional three-courtyard, four-wing hall layout. Along the central axis are the main gate, lower hall, middle hall, and upper hall, connected by corridors between the halls. Side rooms and two rows of wing houses are located on either side, with three lanes and 11 courtyards separating the wing houses from each other and from the halls. This network of courtyards and lanes connects the entire structure, allowing all parts to be interconnected without going outside the main gate. Exquisite carvings can be found throughout the building.

The screens, partition doors, moon beams, bracket arms, and dougong (a type of wooden bracket placed at the intersection of beams or lintels and columns to support the load and reduce the span) feature extensive use of relief and openwork carving techniques, depicting immortals, figures, birds, beasts, and floral patterns. The screens and partitions are inscribed with auspicious phrases such as “Also Governing,” “Harmony in the Middle,” “Eastern Radiance of Taiyi,” “Western Glow of Changgeng,” “Planning Like Swallows for Posterity,” and “Fragrance of Orchids and Osmanthus.”

Qian Guang Lou has a total of ten halls, eleven courtyards, and 258 rooms, complete with wells, granaries, and kitchens, capable of housing several hundred people. It fully reflects the characteristics of Hakka enclosed houses—clan-based communal living and strong defensive features.

The interior of Qian Guang Lou is filled with literary and scholarly elements. The four large characters on the hall beam—“Yan Yi Yi Mou”—are derived from the “Book of Songs · Da Ya · Wen Wang You Sheng”: “Bestow plans upon your descendants, and shelter your sons with care.” It means to ensure peace and provide for one’s offspring. The lane gate plaques are inscribed with “Heng Dou” and “Jin Yi.” The carvings in Qian Guang Lou are especially exquisite—the centerpiece depicts the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, flanked by scenes from “Liu Yi Delivering a Letter,” “Li Bai Drunk,” “Huang Tingjian Playing Chess,” and “Wang Xizhi Loving Geese.”

Inside Qian Guang Lou, there are kitchens, granaries, wells, stables, windmills, pestles, stone mills, vegetable plots, and gardens—everything needed for daily life. Even if the gates were closed for half a month, normal life would not be affected.

In early 1920, amid the chaos in Guangdong and a desire for governance, General Chen Jiongming, Commander-in-Chief of the Guangdong Army, visited Linzhai for clan-related purposes. In 1926, during Chen Jitang’s governance of Guangdong, he inspected Linzhai. In 1929, Chen Mingshu, Chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Government, visited Linzhai on an inspection tour. In 1932, Cantonese opera stars Xue Juexian and Li Cuifang performed in Linzhai. In 1939, foreign friends such as Rewi Alley and the couple Edgar Snow visited. The Nationalist troops of Luo Zhuoying, Li Hanhun, Wu Qiwu, and Lie Yingjia were stationed here at various times, making it an important site of activity between enemy and friendly forces. In May 1949, the headquarters of the Second Column of the Dongjiang Column of the Guangdong-Guangxi-Hunan Border Region was established here, commanding thousands of troops marching south to liberate Guangzhou and Hainan Island, adding an even more legendary aura to the site. In 1958, it served as the location of the Lijiang People's Commune. In 1960, when Chiang Kai-shek threatened to retake the mainland, then-Guangzhou Military Region Commander General Huang Yongsheng deployed the Heroic Tower Hill Regiment here for combat readiness. In 1963, it was used as the manor estate set for the Changchun Film Studio movie “The Independent Battalion.” In 1967, it hosted a Mao Zedong Thought Study Class. In 2007, Zhang Wenbin, then-Director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, visited the site. In 2010, during the 23rd World Hakka Conference, Qian Guang Lou was a featured attraction. Also in 2010, it served as a filming location for China’s first Hakka-language film “A Mei” and Xi’an Film Studio’s “Homeland is Calling.” In 2011, Dr. Sun Hui-fang, granddaughter of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, visited Linzhai for ancestral worship. In 2014, Florentino Pérez, President of Real Madrid Football Club, led a delegation to visit. In 2015, it was a filming site for CCTV News International’s “Happy Chinese” program. In 2016, some photographs taken here were selected for inclusion on a U.S. postage stamp.

Currently, Qian Guang Lou has been converted into a folk museum, showcasing the Hakka folk customs and commercial culture of the ancient Linzhai Village.

Xingjing Village: Xingjing Village is an ancient village under the jurisdiction of Linzhai Town, Heping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. It is a typical Hakka landlord residence complex, with “Qian Guang Lou,” “Yingchuan Jiujia,” and “Zhongxian Di” being the most representative structures.

In September 2006, it was designated as a cultural relics protection unit by Heyuan City. On September 23, 2008, it was listed among the first 27 ancient villages in Guangdong by the Guangdong Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Folk Artists Association. In January 2009, it was officially awarded the title of “Guangdong Ancient Village.”

The ancient village of Xingjing Village has been inhabited since the 9th year of the Yuan Dynasty’s Zhizheng era (1349). It lies against small hills and... More details about Xingjing Village++