Jiuxiu Qimen Liude Hall

　　The Liude Hall in Jiuxiu Qimen Village was the former residence of descendants of the national hero Zheng Chenggong, who reclaimed Taiwan. It covers an area of approximately 3,600 square meters. The main architectural complex is broadly laid out as follows: along the central axis, there are three successive halls, with buildings, watchtowers, and gardens at the rear, and a small front courtyard at the front; the left and right wings each have three sets of wing rooms embracing each other. The entire complex includes 99 gates and 99 windows, both large and small, with 99 twists and turns of long and short alleys, all connected to a small wharf in front of the village via 99 stone steps. The main hall, wing rooms, corridors, courtyards, front yard, and back garden are interconnected through doors and alleys—doors within doors, alleys within alleys, rooms within rooms, forming a looped and interlocking structure. It is a grand and uniquely designed classical manor. Due to the clever use of the odd number “99” in its design layout, it is also known locally as the “Jiuxiu Qimen Liude Hall.”

　　The residents of Jiuxiu Qimen Village (also called Dalang Village), where the Liude Hall is located, all bear the surname Zheng. This is a mountain-surrounded, riverside settlement, and the Zheng family has lived here for over 350 years.

　　During the Ming and Qing dynasties, when Zheng Chenggong defended the Ming against the Qing, upheld the reign title of the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming, was enfeoffed as the Prince of Yanping, and led elite troops along the coasts of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, some clan members and soldiers from Shijing Village in Nan’an, Fujian, had already entered via the sea, traveled upriver through counties such as Sanshui and Sihui in Guangdong, and settled in Huaiji. They chose to live in the Luoda area, which gradually developed into a village. Later, after Zheng’s military defeat, a branch of the Prince of Yanping’s descendants fled chaos and persecution, crossing the sea from Fujian to settle in Luoda, Huaiji, naming the village “Dalang” (meaning to ride the waves and strive for great success). Soon after the Prince’s descendants arrived, other Zheng family members who had come earlier, homesick for their ancestral home in Shijing Village, Nan’an, returned to Fujian via the same route. The current Zheng families living in Jiuxiu Qimen Village are all direct descendants of Zheng Chenggong.

　　The Zheng family in Jiuxiu Qimen Village quickly became wealthy and influential through diligence, wisdom, and harmonious neighborly relations, eventually becoming a prominent local family. By the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, they had grown rich largely through the transport, cultivation, processing, and distribution of li bamboo. In the late Qing Dynasty, Zheng Hongxi, with accumulated wealth and aspirations for future development, began planning the renovation of the ancestral home and the construction of the Liude Hall.

　　The reason this grand house is named Liude Hall is that Zheng Hongxi hoped all six of his sons would become virtuous individuals, believing that “blessings stem from kindness, and longevity accumulates from virtue.” This can be seen in the surviving inscriptions on the walls and eaves of the Liude Hall, such as “tranquility and comfort,” “prosperity for a thousand autumns,” and “enriching the home and the self.”

　　With the idea of “enriching the home and the self” in mind, the builders of the Liude Hall strived to create a cultural atmosphere. The front gate and courtyard feature plaques inscribed with “humanity” and “righteousness.” The eaves and railings of the side halls are carved with plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, crane, phoenix, dragon, and qilin, along with phrases like “elegant orchids standing tall.” The side door plaque in the front hall is inscribed with “following rules” and “abiding by principles.” More interestingly, behind a large painting of “wild geese answering the list of successful candidates” on the inner wall of the gate tower, paintings of the old home in Shijing Village, Nan’an, are displayed on both sides, including phrases like “eternal long tower” and “the good of the village,” signifying a deep-rooted remembrance of their ancestral home. Out of “never forgetting” and “daring not to forget,” legend says that eight old banyan trees by the village river were brought as saplings from Shijing Village, Nan’an, and the two dried-up old trees in front of the Liude Hall were planted in imitation of the two large trees in front of Zheng Chenggong’s administrative office in Taiwan.

　　The Liude Hall, a grand house that embodies Lingnan architectural style, though some say it also incorporates elements of southern Fujian architecture, is said to reflect the concept of “nine” as both a significant and odd number. Jiuxiu Qimen Village is known for its “Nine Wonders”:

　　The first wonder is the unique land. When Zheng Chenggong’s clansmen arrived in Guangdong, they sailed into the Pearl River estuary heading north, turned westward along the Sui River, and landed for a rest in A’ao Dalang. Feeling deeply refreshed and captivated by the scenery, they decided to stay, build huts, and settle down. A feng shui master called it a “rhinoceros gazing at the moon” site.

　　The second wonder is the unique house. The soldiers and clansmen climbed a small hill, where the ground beneath them seemed to emit rising heat and a faint glow surrounded them, giving them a feeling of gazing afar and resembling their ancestral home in eastern Fujian. So they built a “barracks-style” large house. Their descendants later incorporated foreign cultural elements and added Sino-Western-style auxiliary buildings. The ancestral hall sits at the center, surrounded by halls and rooms, with a watchtower overlooking and deep alleys winding through, later referred to as a “99 Maze.”

　　The third wonder is the unique water. In the early days after the Zheng family settled here, they relied on fishing and hunting for a living. The river water in front of their homes was crystal clear with fish and shrimp abundant. With just one cast of the net, their boats would be full, bringing great joy, prompting villagers to exclaim in delight, “Wonderful water, wonderful water!”

　　The fourth wonder is the unique bamboo. As the Zheng family made a living from maritime ventures, a farmer transporting timber rafts cut down several local tea pole bamboos (li bamboo) and transported them to Guangzhou for sale. A British merchant took a liking to them, bought a few, and brought them back to Britain, discovering the bamboo was tough, bright yellow, and free from insect damage. Thereafter, the British merchant commissioned large-scale purchases, declaring that only li bamboo from Huaiji would do, thus earning it the reputation of “wonderful bamboo” or “steel bamboo.”

　　The fifth wonder is the unique tree. The lush ancient banyan trees by the riverbank today, the camellias in front of Zheng Zuoxian’s former residence, and the two dried-up ancient banyan trees in front of the Jiuxiu Qimen Liude Hall were all planted by the descendants of Zheng Chenggong from Fujian. After Zheng Chenggong’s passing, the two banyan trees in front of the Liude Hall dried up, while the riverside banyans thrived. Descendants say the dried banyan trees serve as memorials to Zheng Chenggong, and even the tree species from the ancestral home resonate telepathically—it's truly a wonder of a tree.

　　The sixth wonder is the strange occurrence. The Jiuxiu Qimen Liude Hall is built at the highest point of the mountain, and drinking water had to be fetched from the Sui River bank. One day, an elder dreamt that near the right wing room, a longan tree could produce sacred drinking water. The villagers dug there and discovered a spring gushing forth, making it a dream-come-true wonder.

　　The seventh wonder is the strange encounter. In the 14th year of the Republic of China (1925), a foreigner who did not speak the local language came to the village. For over ten days, he climbed bamboo mountains, explored bamboo forests, visited bamboo farmers, tested the soil and water, measured temperatures, and observed the environment before leaving by wooden raft. The villagers found it strange, but later learned he was American botanist Mogooley, who wrote about Huaiji li bamboo in his book *World Bamboo Research*. In 1974, his student, Harvard professor Martin, followed his mentor’s guidance to revisit the li bamboo origin in Jiuxiu Qimen Village, adding content to *World Bamboo Research* and solving the mystery of the strange encounter.

　　The eighth wonder is the unique view. Drifting on a wooden raft along the Li River (the A’ao section of the Sui River) toward Jiuxiu Qimen Village, one sees bamboo forests and shimmering blue waves, said to resemble the scene of “fairies weaving nets.”

　　The ninth wonder is the unique person. Zheng Zuoxian, born in 1898 in Jiuxiu Qimen Village, told his family in 1927 that he was going to study in Guangzhou and then lost contact. Villagers believed he was exceptionally intelligent as a child and speculated he had become a wealthy man living elsewhere. After the liberation, the State Council issued a martyr’s certificate, revealing that Zheng Zuoxian had joined the Guangzhou Uprising organized by - and Zhang Tailei, sacrificing his life in 1928 at the central gun emplacement on Chezuo Islet in Guangzhou. The villagers called him a unique person who brought honor to his hometown.