Located at the foot of Mount Huangshan, Hongcun village has long been regarded as one of China's most beautiful ancient villages. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

Hongcun village at the foot of Mount Huangshan has long been regarded as one of China's most beautiful ancient villages, with its picture-perfect traditional stone courtyard buildings set against the mountains on a serene lake.

Acclaimed Chinese director Ang Lee took its beauty to the big screen in his martial arts epic "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and the village was added to UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list in 2000.

So I was brimming over with anticipation as I boarded the bus for this famous village, about half an hour's drive of Mount Huangshan in central China's Anhui province. I had spent the week filing reports on the province with a team of China Radio International reporters. Our trip to Hongcun, on the second last day of our tour, was one of the biggest highlights in our itinerary.

As we approached the famous village, the roofs of the ancient stone houses were just visible above the stone wall that surrounds the village. The serenity of the river and flowering trees in the foreground and the dramatic mountains in the distance created a poetic vision of an idyllic ancient Chinese village. Groups of painters sitting by the banks of the river were trying to capture the vision.

Most of them were university students majoring in fine arts, keen to create a masterpiece on a beautiful spring day in the Anhui countryside. Zhang Xudong from the Hunan Normal University was working hard to capture the village on canvass.

"This village is like a Chinese ink painting. I can't capture its beauty very well with colors, so I am experimenting by using the techniques employed in traditional Chinese landscape paintings and pencil sketches. I chose this perspective because you can see the whole spectacle of the Hui-style architecture from this angle," he said.

The traditional Anhui – or Hui-style – architecture that dominates the village is one of the biggest draw cards for the visitors who visit the village in search of an unspoiled piece of ancient China. The grey stone buildings, white walls and dark blue, tiled roofs with upturned eaves you can see throughout the village all characterize Hui-style architecture. The walls and eaves together are called horsehead walls because if you use a little imagination, they look like a white horse with its mane flying in the air.

The village contains around 150 courtyard homes, family temples and schools that date all the way back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, making them 400 to 500 years old. Around 130 of the original buildings are still in good shape and many are open to the public. Every building and wall is unique. They stand at different heights, lending the village a certain disorganized charm.

The cobbled streets of the village remain exactly the same as they have been for centuries. Every street has a water canal running along it, filling the village with the soothing sound of rushing water. They carry water to every building in the village and empty into a small lake near the entrance.

The men who planned Hongcun village actually planned this ingenious network of canals before anything else in the village. They designed the water supply to comply with the principles of feng shui, then built the village around it.

Our tour guide told us the entire village resembles an ox. The water canals forms the intestines, which empty into the lake that forms the stomach. A hill at the western end of the village resembles the head of an ox, as it has two large trees like enormous horns. The four bridges at the front and rear of the village form the four legs of the ox and the buildings symbolize the body.

Ang Lee immortalized the "stomach lake" in his international hit, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Two of the leading actors in the film, Chow Yun-fat and Zhang Ziyi, fought desperately as they half-flew, half-ran across the surface of the lake. It's easy to see why the director chose the lake for his film. Everywhere you look, the still waters perfectly reflect the simple, graceful Hui architecture and mountains in the distance. China Post also recognized the scene's postcard potential and captured it on a stamp released as part of a series commissioned to celebrate the ancient villages of China.

Having admired the buildings from the outside, we decided to take a tour to check out the interior of the Chengzhitang residential complex. This complex once belonged to a businessman who lived in the village. With its interconnected series of courtyards and rooms – including a shrine, mahjong room, opium room and study – Chenzhitang has been named 'A Living Ancient Residential Museum' and “the forbidden city in the countryside”.

The two intricately carved gates we saw as we entered the complex were typical features of Hui style architecture. Beautifully rendered ancient wood carvings adorn the beams, columns and door frames of the front hall. They contain complex, elegant symbols denoting the wealth of the family who once lived here. Our tour guide told us almost every aspect of the complex is bursting with symbolism. Every element of the front hall was carefully designed to symbolize prosperity, safety and harmony.