During the Qingming mini holiday, we couldn’t go too far, and most of the well-known spots near Beijing were packed with tourists. It was really hard to find a quieter place to visit. After searching online, I found that the ancient villages of Jingxing in Shijiazhuang fit the bill—they’re over 300 kilometers from Beijing and only about a half-day’s drive away. So, I privately arranged a trip with friends—three cars, eleven people. To avoid traffic, we set off at six in the morning. Aside from some minor delays caused by rear-end collisions in certain sections, most of the drive went smoothly, and we arrived at the farmhouse before lunch and got settled in.


The ancient villages of Jingxing are situated against the Taihang Mountains, so they use local materials, with the common feature being stone as the primary building material. However, each village has its own unique style, history, and legends. The more famous ones include Yujia Village, Daliangjiang Village, Lvjia Village, Liangjia Village, Xiaolongwo Village, Didu, and Tiangzhang Town. Except for Yujia Village, which has been developed into a scenic area requiring an entrance fee, the other six are free to visit. Tiangzhang Town is relatively bustling because it was the former county seat of Jingxing, while the other five villages are more primitive and traditional. The locals are extremely hospitable—if you ask for directions anywhere, they’ll gladly give you detailed guidance. When they see us wandering around the villages, many villagers invite us into their homes. Almost all the houses that are occupied have their doors wide open, and the hosts warmly introduce the village’s history, architectural features, and various interesting local customs. In Xiaolongwo Village, we even happened to meet the village party secretary, who was also very welcoming and gave us a tour.

These simple, traditional villages are quite appealing to us city dwellers, but the food and accommodation conditions are a bit basic. Most farmhouses charge around 50 yuan per person, including one night’s stay and three meals. On the first afternoon, we visited two villages plus the Nüzi Pass scenic area. On the second day, we explored the remaining five villages. The worst experience turned out to be at the paid Yujia Village—after being turned into a scenic area, aside from more tourists, the commercial atmosphere became overwhelming, completely lacking the simple and warm charm of the other small villages. On the third day, on our way back to Beijing, we passed by Yuyuantan in the West Third Ring Road and saw the bumper-to-bumper traffic and crowds. That immediately made us realize how fortunate we had been during the peaceful and elegant days in those ancient villages. After two days of simple living, we felt it was necessary to indulge a little when we got back to Beijing. We ended the trip perfectly with a splurge on some Northeastern-style “luxury fish.”