Xidi and Hongcun

In China, most sites are huge. Huge palaces, huge gardens, huge temples, huge fortifications, huge mausoleums, huge Buddhas, huge old towns ... As impressive and deserving of inscription as these sites are, I also enjoy the smaller and more intimate sites you find in other countries and was wondering when/where I could find one of those in China. Turns out, Hongcun fits the criteria.

Hongcun is a traditional folk village in the Anhui region that together with Xidi is the most representative and best preserved example of the local traditional villages. Note: There are more similar villages in the area.

Hongcun village dates back to the Ming dynasty and is largely intact, ignoring the tourist shops that have opened up in the old houses. It's remarkable intact and a joy to explore on foot with plenty of houses open for visitors to explore. The best bits to me was seeing how the city dealt with water, with water flowing below the walkways.

Getting There

The main transport hub for the area is the bullet train station at Huangshanbei (North Huangshan, the town, not the mountain). Around the train station, a small tourist town has developed with hotels and some restaurants. It's just a bit tricky to get to the hotel area on foot, even though it's just a 5min walk. You need to pass below the railway tracks via one deserted looking tunnel. In addition, google maps had it all …

I disliked both villages. I came with a tour from Huangshan which is very popular. I found that now that visitors are coming the locals make this into a tourist trap, selling overpriced vegetables and herbs and making them seem special. I walked around the villages twice in the hope to see something special but in the end all I got were farmhouses and farmers working on the fields, washing clothes in the dirty water. If I wanted to see that maybe I could go to Romania too? Once I saw everything the tour guide said we spend another hour here for "shopping" - how frustrating!

For people who think China is all developed because of its economic standing in the world: most of it is still farming. So if I get to farm villages with some traditional housing it isn't special. You can see that in a lot of places. It maybe is not protected or in a good state but that doesn't make it worth seeing. Elite metropolitans maybe think it is something they have never seen before.

I visited Xidi and Hongcun in 2017, around the time of Chinese New Year. Both sites were thus very crowded - but on the plus side, most houses were decorated with red "chunlian" banderoles on each side of the door, which enhanced the experience in the otherwise very much black-and-white looking villages. 

Both villages are the most representative villages of the traditional region of Huizhou (where the "hui" part of the name of Anhui province comes from), and are just two of many. The region overall is more or less equivalent to today's Huangshan prefecture and somewhat off the beaten track - but during the Ming and Qing dynasties it was a centre of literati and brought forth many court officials. It was these latter who - once retired from officialdom in Beijing - would build the exquisitely decorated mansions in their home towns in Huizhou. Particularly renowned officials would even be awarded a "paifang" by the emperor - a ceremonial gate, such as the one at the entrance of Xidi.

Xidi, Hongcun and their neighbouring villages were thus relatively wealthy villages, and their architecture is far more elaborate and polished than what would be expected of "vernacular" architecture. In general, the buildings display a pretty plain exterior, which contrasts with extremely ornamented interiors - in particular the interior open-air courtyard which was used to receive guests, where no wooden beam or panel is left undecorated. In addition to wood carving, stone and brick carving are typical of …

Xidi and Hongcun can easily be reached from Huangshan City. Until quite recently, foreigners required a permit when visiting this region (and especially the little villages). This has been abandoned now so it seems, at least I wasn't bothered. Transport is abundant too. I was on my way to the bus station to take a bus to Yixian from where minibusses are leaving to both towns when I was 'highjacked' by a taxi driver. The friendly guy offered to drive me around for the day, and we quickly agreed on a price. The drive from Huangshan City takes about 45 minutes and is a pleasant one through the hilly and rural landscape of Anhui.

We first stopped at Xidi, where 124 traditional houses remain. Especially near the entrance of the village, every inhabitant seems to have opened a souvenir shop, which is a bit annoying. The highlight of the village is behind you then already: a great three-tiered stone arch.

The village is bigger than you'd expect, and one can easily spend 1,5-2 hours here. Besides the ubiquitous Chinese tour groups, I met many high school students painting the street scenes. Lots of local people were doing their laundry in the waters running through the village, probably taking advantage of this wonderful sunny day.

Hongcun, about 15 km away from Xidi, has several of the same features as Xidi but distinguishes itself by its pools and narrow streets. I found it a bit difficult to navigate here, …

My wife and I visited Xidi and Hongcun in January 2002 as part of our visit to Huang Shan. We both really loved the villages, as we do everything in China. They have been well-preserved, and what was so amazing is that people actually still live there, surrounded by tourists. It was far better than seeing an empty shell, even though many wanted paying for their photos to be taken! But then, how else can they make a living? I didn't mind that.

A visit here is thoroughly recommended, but be careful if you go outside the normal tourist dates - you have to get a police permit to enter the sites, and it took several hours finding the office and rousing up someone who could arrange the permits.

If you want to see more photos of the villages, have a look at the ever-growing web site of our travels in China: www.tingey.tv

Xidi and Hongcun are precious gems, getting there is fun! We had our own rented minivan, and left Huangshan very early. We passed the countryside covered in mist and bamboo forests, it looked like Switzerland with the river, the black-and-white ancient villages! I wrote this in the Huangshan section, but it's worth repeating. Try visiting some of the other villages enroute to Hongcun and Xidi, they are quite similar in style, minus the commercial atmosphere.

Having said that, I know that our group blends in with the local Chinese backpackers, so we never have problems with permits. I'm not sure if you don't look Chinese if there's a way around this.