Qiaotou Xiaji Village

　　Recently, cultural heritage workers discovered a well-preserved ancient village with Ming and Qing dynasty-era crab-shaped architecture in Yangxi Town, Anfu County, at the foot of the Wugong Mountains — Qiaotou Xiaji Village. For a long time in ancient China, it was popular to select village locations based on feng shui, yin-yang, and the eight trigrams. However, ancient villages designed in the shape of animals are still rare in China. Cultural heritage experts believe that the discovery of this crab-shaped village provides valuable physical material for the study of ancient Chinese village culture.

　　　　The village of Qiaotou Xiaji is nestled against a mountain and faces a river, with the entire settlement oriented from south to north and built lower in the front and higher in the back. All the buildings in the village are concentrated within an oval-shaped, elongated area, enclosed by village boundaries paved with blue bricks and cobblestones. Inside, there are over 100 ancient structures including ancestral halls and residential courtyards, most of which date back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. This enclosed, block-like architectural layout resembles the shell of a crab. Surprisingly, all the doors of the ancient buildings open slightly to the left, with almost no doors opening to the right, symbolizing the crab “moving sideways to the left.”

　　　　There are two longitudinal lanes and eight transverse lanes in the village, accompanied by two longitudinal ditches and eight transverse ditches, forming a drainage system. After leaving the village, the ditches curve and wind around the perimeter of the village, resembling the crab’s legs extending from its shell. Coupled with the fact that the entire village is situated on a gentle slope, it aptly matches an old folk rhyme: “A crab has eight legs, crawling down the slope, curving and winding as it goes.”

　　　　Beside an ancient protective path to the north of the village, there are also two round ancient wells, named “Left Eye Well” and “Right Eye Well,” resembling the crab’s two eyes. The spring water in the wells is inexhaustible year-round, sweet and refreshing. At the northeast and northwest corners of the village, there are two ancient embankments, each curving out toward a pond about 300 meters in front of the village and intersecting in the middle of a pond covering approximately 10 acres — resembling the crab’s large pincer arms.

　　　　According to research, when the village was first established during the Yuan dynasty, Qiaotou Xiaji did not have a crab-shaped layout. Elders in the village say that in the early Ming dynasty, due to feng shui considerations, major construction began to reshape the village into the form of a giant crab. Since then, the villagers have regarded the crab as an auspicious symbol, adopting mottos such as “daring to be the first in the world” and “a crab with no path moves forward one sideways step at a time,” encouraging villagers to strive forward despite burdens and dare to explore the world. (By Tong He and Guo Yuanming)