Yongfeng Ancient Architectural Complex

　　   and took shape in the mid-to-early Qing Dynasty. Today, about 300 well-preserved ancient residences form a complete ancient architectural complex.

　　   Gupeng Village faces south and is built on a gently sloping hillside. The buildings are relatively neat, with straight longitudinal alleys. All the lanes, big and small, are paved with stones,

　　   earning the nickname “Stone Alley.” Among the ancient structures are 15 brick ancestral halls and a four-story Taiping Tower made of blue bricks, tiles, and timber, while the rest are mainly residences.

　　   Among the ancestral halls, the Bofu Chen Ancestral Hall is the most grand. Located in the center of old Gupeng Village,

　　   it covers an area of 738.7 square meters and was built in the early Qing Dynasty, making it the oldest among all the ancestral halls, with a history of over 300 years.

　　   The entire structure consists of a front, middle, and rear hall from low to high, separated by courtyards and connected by wing rooms on both sides, showing a rigorous layout. All wooden pillars are made from whole logs of saoganmu wood, which remain very sturdy today. At the highest point at the back of the old village

　　   stands a approximately 20-meter-high Ping’an Tower, a watchtower built by villagers in ancient times to guard against bandit attacks. The tower has four stories: the first floor is built with nine layers of brick and walls nearly one meter thick, tapering slightly upward, with the fourth-floor walls about 0.

　　   5 meters thick. Each of the four sides of the tower has three firing holes (also called gun ports) on the southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast facades. According to local accounts, after the tower was built, it

　　   was never actually used in combat but instead served as a symbolic structure watching over the entire village. Most interestingly, six out of ten old residences have “a few”-shaped brick walls about two to three meters high on both sides of their “golden” roof ridges, resembling the “ears” of a house. Locals call these “Wok Ear Houses.”

　　   Each house covers an area of about 90 to 100 square meters, featuring a brick, tile, and timber structure with a central courtyard. The main hall is in the center, with kitchens and bedrooms on the eastern and western sides — a type of ancient architecture unique to Lingnan. Nowadays, most villagers have moved to the new village in front of the old one, but a small number still live in the ancient houses left by their ancestors, continuing the long and enduring historical stories.