A labyrinth of cobblestone ancient buildings – the thousand-year-old Shanchong Village in Fujian

Text and photos by Li Xinyi

Shanchong Village in Changtai, Fujian, is a thousand-year-old ancient settlement, whose development is associated with Chen Yuanguang, the Sacred King of Zhangzhou, who is highly respected by the people of Zhangzhou, Fujian. In the Tang Dynasty (669 AD), Chen Zheng, the father of Chen Yuanguang (the Sacred King of Zhangzhou), was a general. He commanded the military leader Xue Wuhui to lead troops to settle here, and to this day, most villagers are surnamed Xue. Another major family, the Lins, migrated later, and the two clans are separated by a stream. During the Qing Dynasty, the two families once clashed over water rights, leading some Xues to flee to Taiwan after killing members of the Lin family—settling in what is now Qieding District, Kaohsiung. The Xue family visited their ancestral home in 1988.

Shanchong Village preserves ancient residences and lanes paved with cobblestones from the Qing Dynasty. The winding, maze-like alleys were designed for security. A few residents still live in these historic houses, but visitors need a guide to explore them, or they might easily get lost in the labyrinthine lanes.