Clickto Listen

The structure of the house was also shaped by local culture and way of life. As men of the family were away from home doing business most of the time, the houses were all protected with high walls and tiny windows.

Without the freedom to build the houses any way they wanted, the Hui businessmen lavished their wealth and creativity into the extravagant details of the house. Stone carvings, wood carvings, brick carvings of Hui style houses are hot items on antique market nowadays for their superb craftsmanship.

Every single detail in this house called Chengzhi Tang reflects part of Hui culture. The beam on the front courtyard was carved out of a whole tree trunk depicting the banquet of royal officials, as a place in the royal court is the career path every Hui businessmen dreamed for their kids.

It almost feels like I'm standing at the bottom of a well. And this part is called Tianjing, and this is a very important section of the whole house, especially for businessman. Water and rain represent money, so the design of a sky well in a Hui-style building should help them to amass the maximum amount of water.

A tiny window is typical of Hui-style building. You know in the past, women were not allowed to be seen by men from outside the family. So their view was blocked by high wall and limited by this small window.

Looks like the lives of those little misses living upstairs 100 years ago were not that miserable after all.  Because once in a while they could get to enjoy the local opera performance in the courtyard although they were not allowed to get out, and in bitterly cold winter, sitting in this cute little charcoal basin.

In ancient Huizhou area, Xinan River was the only way connecting local people with the outside world. Therefore the river became extremely important for their daily life. Just take a look at Yuliang dam on the river built in Song Dynasty, still standing strong after weathering through 1000 years.

Being washed over by water for thousand years, the shape of these stones defines the weight of history, or shall we say the wave of history. And it's right from here, the ancient Yuliang dock, that over millions of teenage boys bid farewell to their hometown. They didn't have time to be sentimental, because for them, this was the starting point for a bright promising future career.  And without their efforts, there probably wouldn't be so many old streets, old towns.

 

(CRIENGLISH.com)

Related Story: The Yellow Mountain (Mt. Huangshan)

Back to "CRI Travel"                   More Audio Tours at "Multimedia"