Mysterious Bagua Village Discovered in Guangdong Province, Where Every House Is Taped With The Same Pair Of Couplets And The Layout Is Delicately Surrounded By Water

Today I visited an ancient village in Guangdong. This village can be seen by everyone, because not only does it have a beautiful landscape, it is surrounded by a moat-like river. It also has a deep cultural heritage, and at same time, there are many non-traditional places. You should know that in order to attract tourists and friends, in addition to its own advantages, it must also have special properties.

Let's get to know this ancient village today. What is special about her?

(1) Shifeng Village

First of all, if you want to talk about this village, you must start with its geographic location. The village is located in mountains of Guangdong province, which already has beautiful scenery. But this village is unique in that it has a village moat. After this river descends from mountain, it goes around village and then flows to east.

River water is not crystal clear, but has an emerald green hue, which is visually more pleasing to eye. It seems that village was tied with a green ribbon as a gift to everyone. Then it is not surprising that this place, surrounded by mountains and rivers, was recognized as "the most beautiful village."

Every summer, many tourists come here to escape summer heat. Incidentally, experience of a farmhouse in village, and some just live here for a while. In morning sun, listening to birdsong in distance, lying under a tree to enjoy shade. A ray of sun seeps through leaves, forming colorful shadows on ground, without any damage from work. Such a day can be called extremely comfortable.

In addition to beautiful scenery, there are many unique advantages here. For example, houses here are built in a very formulaic way, and whole village is distributed in a special form of Uji Bagua diagram, which has a strong Taoist atmosphere.

(2) Pay attention to education

Unlike other ancient villages, this village attaches great importance to education. That is, atmosphere of Confucianism is strong, and you can see huge statue of Confucius when you enter village. This statue was built by people later, but it also reflects importance of education. Since one of ancestors became famous here during Ming Dynasty, people in village paid special attention to education.

During feudal period, there were already two private schools in village, which is inaccessible to 90% of country's villages. Later, during time of Republic of China, someone in village made a fortune abroad, returned to village and built an academy, and arranged for all children in village to go to academy to attend elementary school. This academy is called Shenglin Academy, where statue of Confucius is now located.

However, after years of destruction and baptism by artillery fire, Shenglin Academy collapsed, and now we see how people restore it to its original location.

Now no one reads in it, instead it is used as a place for receiving tourists, where you can touch unique rural customs. You can learn how to embroider from local old men, as well as get acquainted with local peculiarities of pot pulling. Embroidery here is well known throughout, with great regional flair.

(3) Strange couplet

But what puzzles author is that there is a strange couplet pasted on every door here. According to ancient Chinese tradition, couplets are not unusual. But what is even more strange is that content of couplets posted on doors of all people is same.

The top line is "Nanning Jia Shengyuan" and second line is "Longxi Shize Chang". This verse may seem a little confusing at first glance, but after talking to locals and adding my guesses, I was able to roughly understand its basic meaning.

Nanning means Nanning, Guangxi. There was a large family that migrated from Nanning when their ancestors had this village. The place where this village is located was called "Lunxi" in ancient times.

Therefore, some locals migrated from Nanning to Longxi. They will inevitably feel homesick after they come here, which is why this couplet is mentioned.

"Nanning's home is far away" means that our home in Nanning is so far away that we can't even hear sound. ""Longxi Shize Long" means we want to stay forever in this Longxi place.

Because of this, descendants of this family have passed down this couplet and stick same couplet every year to honor their ancestors and tell themselves not to forget where they came from.

In current village, there are still many buildings left from ancient times, most of which were built during late Qing Dynasty. It has been abandoned for a long time, and weeds have grown in front of door. After entering, a strong smell of dampness hits face, which is unacceptable.

When tourists first come to this village, they will be confused by trend of Five Elements and Eight Diagrams. Many people will get lost and cannot get out of village, so they will have to ask locals for directions.

This village is really a good place to relax, not only for games, but also for getting to know characteristic folk customs. If you want to stay overnight, village also has a guest house specifically designed to welcome tourists, and friends who are interested can stay here for a while.