Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui - Xidi and Hongcun
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How it came to be
Xidi and Hongcun are villages in Yi County, Huangshan, in southern Anhui. Xidi was founded in the Huangyou era (1049-1053) of the Northern Song, and Hongcun in 1131 by a general of the Southern Song. Both were organised around clans and lived mainly from trade.
The Hu family of Xidi had become merchants by about 1465 and by the mid-17th century carried political weight as well. Hongcun's clan also grew rich in trade. Officials and merchants who came home built houses, and the villages keep the look of rural Anhui from the 14th to the 20th century. At its 18th- and 19th-century peak Xidi had about 600 houses.
Xidi was laid out along three streams, while Hongcun's channels link the Moon Pond at its centre with a second pool to the south; the village is planned in the shape of an ox. Both were inscribed in 2000. Scenes of the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were shot in Hongcun.
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