Hong Cun Village

The next day we toured Hong Cun Village. It has been around since the Ming(1368 to 1644) and Qing(1644 to 1912) Dynasties but is most recently famous for the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." The village is arranged in the shape of an ox with the nearby hill (Leigang Hill) interpreted as the head, and two trees standing on it as the horns. Four bridges across the Jiyin stream can be seen as the legs whilst the houses of the village form the body. Inside the “body”, the Jiyin stream represents the intestines and various lakes such as the “South Lake” (Nanhu) form the other internal organs.

One of the four legs of the ox. Everyone has to cross this bridge to get into the village.

Ducks and water lilies run all across the stream.

The water system runs all through the village like veins of the ox. Some are exposed, others covered by rocks you walk over.

This lady was washing her dinner in one of the outlets!

As you walk through the village, the people who live there sell food and gifts along the way. I asked the tour guide how the people who lived here could put up with all of the tourist coming and going around where they live all day. The answer: the government pays all of them money each month to allow where they live to have tourist walk through. Then they also get the advantage of possibly selling things to them. It reminded me of what it was like to live in the North End of Boston. Tourist everywhere!! 

This is the heart of the village. It was also the place where one of the fight scenes took place in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Some of the houses have been saved and no one lives in them. The outsides have been preserved quite well.

Different carvings on the outer door wall.

All of the insides are quite small and have been decorated to how they would have looked hundreds of years ago. The above picture is the living room.

Behind that white wall is the bedroom. It's was about four feet by eight feet long.

At the top of the house here, you can see two small square holes. This is where the women of the house would go to when men would visit. They could then look down at the guest from the small squares.

An old wooden carving on one of the beams of the house. The two hooks where for lanterns to light the house.

The guy on the right created the plans and design of the village however a woman was the one who created the water system that runs through it. The other two guys on the left were ancestors of someone who lived in the village a long time ago.