Why go
For centuries the merchants of Huizhou grew rich on tea, salt and timber, then poured the money home into villages of extraordinary refinement. The style is instantly recognisable — chalk-white walls streaked with rain, black tile roofs stepped into 'horse-head' gables that both blocked fire and flaunted wealth, and interiors of dark carved wood arranged around sky-wells that pulled light and rainwater into the core of the house.
Hongcun was planned in the Ming dynasty as a water buffalo: channels run through every lane to the Moon Pond (its stomach) and South Lake (its belly). Xidi, the older of the pair, grew organically along its stream into a tight web of 120-odd surviving Ming-Qing houses. Both were UNESCO-listed in 2000, and both empty beautifully after the last bus leaves.
- Hongcun's Moon Pond (月沼) at dawn — mist, reflections and horse-head gables before the tour groups
- South Lake with its arched bridge, the film's most recognisable frame
- Xidi's Memorial Archway entrance and its dense carved-wood merchant mansions
- Stay overnight in a converted merchant house — courtyards, carved beds, dinner with the family
Seeing both villages
They are 20 km apart and complementary: Hongcun for water, reflections and photography, Xidi for density of carved architecture and fewer crowds. If time forces a choice, most first-timers pick Hongcun. Inside either village, the open mansions (look for the carved 'beauty lean-on' first-floor windows at Xidi and the grand Chengzhi Hall at Hongcun) reward slow looking — the woodcarving took 20 craftsmen 10 years.
Staying overnight
Overnighting inside the villages is the single best decision you can make here: guesthouses occupy genuine merchant houses, cost ¥200–400 a night, and buy you the villages at dusk and dawn when day-trippers are gone and the lanes belong to locals drying chillies and playing mahjong. Combine with a Huangshan mountain hike before or after — the villages sit at its foot, and the pairing of granite peaks and soft white villages is the classic Anhui itinerary.
Getting there
- Buses from Huangshan North high-speed rail station to Yixian, ~1 hour
- From Tunxi (Huangshan city) buses run direct to both villages
- Founded
- Song dynasty; houses mainly Ming–Qing (14th–19th c.)
- Fame
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon filming location
- UNESCO
- World Heritage since 2000
