History, scenic surroundings and great food converge in the Unesco-listed Huangshan mountain range, providing a memorable low-tempo experience as Nicole Chabot learns
I’m gazing over ancient grey-tiled rooftops, interrupted by white lime walls of the village houses they shelter. In the distance, pine trees cover undulating hills. My urbanised soul is momentarily thrown before it hungrily sets about committing to memory the grey, white and green. This is life in Xidi Village in Yi County in Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) as seen from the upper floor of Pig’s Heaven Inn Xidi.
This is no ordinary Chinese village or city. Huangshan in the south-eastern province of Anhui is the only city in China with two Unesco World Heritage listings: one a joint listing for Xidi Village and nearby Hong Village; and a second for the city’s fabled Yellow Mountain.
Despite this, not a great deal has been written about Huangshan in English, though some blurb about the Huizhou merchants who originated there is common in guidebooks. These early business travellers who originated in the southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) became most well known in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911). With their riches, they built houses like the Pig’s Heaven Inn guesthouse, schools, paifang (archways) and ancestral halls.
A stay at the 600sqm three-storey Pig’s Heaven Inn offers the visitor an unforgettable experience of ancient Chinese village life. The Ming-Dynasty building showcases the much-lauded Hui architectural style with its horse head walls and grey-tiled roof that cut a dignified silhouette. The faded remains of Lunar New Year couplets hang above and along each side of the entrance, while a carved “door shadow” above the entrance denotes the social standing of the owner for who it was built. Inwards, the sky well, a rectangle cut from the roof which lets in water, considered to be lucky, further distinguishes the property and merges the natural with the built environment.
Steeped in atmosphere, this is a far cry from the bland big-is-best accommodation ubiquitous in today’s China. Guests claim from a variety of six rooms. All bear the owners’ personal touch and are differently furnished: some contain futon beds; others wonderful red-lacquer Chinese beds of carved wood which merge well with the historical setting. Bedrooms have heated shower rooms, while western-style toilets rule out the necessity of squatting. Some rooms have TVs and radios. Heaters and electric blankets further fend off wintertime chills. Luckily for me, being here in the summertime, there’s no need for these.
My delight at all things Pig’s Heaven Inn-related only increases when it comes to my first meal (lunch and dinner are upon request). Anhui food is one of the eight major Chinese cuisines and another reason, on top of the Unesco listings, to visit. I sit outdoors at the site of the former pigsty, which gives the guesthouse its name, waiting for my feed while 1950s singers croon on an old stand-up radio: freshwater-lake fish hot-pot, greens with tofu strips, and noodles made from sweet potato.
While there are some modern facilities at the Pig’s Heaven Inn Xidi – public facilities include telephone, fax, PC and internet and laptops can be plugged in – the setting is meditative and modest. Those looking for an upscale version can be accommodated at the Pig’s Heaven Inn Bishan, opened on the back of the success of the first hotel in June 2008; it shares the same husband and wife owners. The Bishan guesthouse is a 10-minute drive from the Xidi property. Sometimes, visitors combine a stay at Xidi with dinners at Bishan.
“The 1,320sqm property used to be the dwelling of a businessman before it was divided into four parts for four impoverished families,” the owners say. It dates from the Minggou, a post-1911 period which mainly refers to the 1920s and 1930s. They’ve respected the Hui architecture of the buildings yet provide everything the modern traveller might need.
There are nine rooms on two floors: five standard rooms, two king-size rooms, one old-style bedroom and a villa, all offering private bathrooms fitted out with hand-painted Chinese ceramic basins from Jingdezhen, producer of high-quality ceramic. The colour scheme is Mediterranean: sunshiny walls and blue and white cloth which upholsters tables and chairs.
Like at the Xidi property, the star of the Bishan guesthouse is the building – and its open spaces in particular. Soaring ceilings and vast open spaces are plainly furnished, decorated only by the carvings that grace its pillars, beams and balconies. Fans soundlessly push the air about and inbuilt beauty recliners lace a pond in which lotuses blossom and carp paddle about.
Also interesting is the Cultural Revolution propaganda on the garden wall which shows a peasant on horseback galloping towards an industrialised city.
XIDI VILLAGE AND HONG VILLAGE
There are a variety of things to do beyond the walls of the Pig’s Heaven Inn Bishan. Just as at the Xidi guesthouse, multilingual tour guides can be arranged while the bicycles, tents and camping equipment left behind by former guests are free of charge and on a first-come-first-served basis.
I team up with a guide for the next few days, Ray, a spindly man in his early thirties who originates from Huangshan and knows everything about our environs. He recommends we hire a driver and car to visit the surrounding Xidi Village and Hong Village, also in Yi County. The Yellow Mountain in the Huangshan Scenic Zone and Tunxi Ancient Street in Tunxi District are on the itinerary.
Despite his descriptions and gesticulations, there’s little preparation for the extraordinariness of the Unesco-listed Xidi and Hong Villages, with their famous Hui architecture unplundered by Red Guards due to their hilly inland locations. Not only are the village houses exquisite, their decorations and carvings are full of meaning, reflecting both the social status of their original owners and the Confucianism of the day.
We spot old women washing vegetables, men standing to slurp noodles and apron-clad women stuffing buns which will later be steamed. These scenes are common for summertime and compete for “most evocative tableau”, with sights of old such as the elaborately carved archway at Xidi’s entrance built to commemorate a Ming Dynasty official who was born there.
As if the sight of this were not enough, the waters of the man-made lake beside it double it. Before the Cultural Revolution, there were a dozen such archways lined up outside the village.
At the other heritage site, Hong Village, the entire settlement is laid out in the shape of a reclining ox according to feng-shui principles. Every part of the village, whether natural or man-made, stands for a different part of the animal. One example is the Moon Pond representing the heart. It’s surrounded by Ming and Qing Dynasty houses whose solemn facades are reflected in the water.
At its edge, women carve dried meat or rinse leafy vegetables. Geese float by before heaving themselves out of the water to shake dry their plumage and preen their feathery coats. It’s the focus of numerous visiting artists.
YELLOW MOUNTAIN
“Enough watery vistas! You can’t do Huangshan and not do the mountain,” says Ray of the magical Unesco-listed Yellow Mountain in Huangshan scenic zone. Once up there, I see that the scenery is a technicolour version of everything you expect from a classical Chinese painting: mist-shrouded craggy rock formations and precariously perched pines, rock inscriptions, hot springs and, if you’re fortunate enough, the circular rainbow of the elusive Buddha’s Halo. Steeped in myth at every turn of the mountain path, it’s a great place to learn about Chinese mythology and get acquainted with the important characters of the Chinese pantheon.
Unsurprisingly for something so good looking, the mountain has been eulogised in three schools of painting and has also been the muse of countless poets like the Tang Dynasty’s Li Bai from who, some say, the mountain earned its name. The Yellow Mountain’s flora and fauna have also formed the basis of Anhui cuisine. I remember the food at the Pig’s Heaven Inn Xidi. The mountain slopes yield ingredients used in the Xin’an school of medicine, a branch of Chinese medicine that hails from Huangshan.
Because of its renditions in artworks and poetry and its cable car and sedan chair services, Huangshan can be all-too busy. Visitors should pick the times and days of their ascents carefully.
TUNXI ANCIENT STREET
Artworks, food and herbs are all available at Tunxi Ancient Street in Tunxi District, which is the last stop on our itinerary. Established in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), this 1km stretch is the oldest in Huangshan. The narrow flagstone laid strip is flanked with shops, workshops, and residences that adhere to the “front shop and back workshop” or “front shop and back house” format. The three-storey high buildings are stone based and brick laid and bear the architectural hallmarks of the region: sweeping double-eaved roofs, soaring horse head walls, and wood carvings depict the everyday activities of old.
Dating back to the halcyon days of the Hui merchants, the shops on Tunxi Ancient Street sell the things they used to trade and reflect their scholarly aspirations. The so-called four literary pursuits of: ink, rice paper, ink stones and ink sticks are ubiquitous with these and other calligraphy accoutrements forming the most-common items for sale on the street. Super-size horsehair brushes mark the thresholds of these establishments.
Other interesting stops include the century-old Tongderen Medicine Shop, where shelves are stocked with dried grass, barks, roots and novelty herbal medicines such as dried scorpions and centipedes whose powers support the Xin’an school of Chinese medicine; and the traditional blue-and-white folk cloth shop at number 250 where designs range from traditional abstract patterns to contemporary butterfly and flower designs. There’s no tailor onsite, so either you purchase X metres of cloth or opt for prêt-a-porter pieces like the long, mid-length and short cheung sam or mandarin-collar tops.
For smaller packable items that won’t burst the zips on your luggage, a foray into the souvenir shop at number 240 is a must. For browsing, it’s fun too.
It’s said that the visitor should travel once to Huangshan in every season. I know for sure that I’ll be back again.
FAST FACTS
GETTING THERE: Regular flights connect Shenzhen to Huangshan. The Unesco World Heritage site of Xidi Village is located in Tunxi District, northwest of Huangshan 40 minutes’ drive from Huangshan Airport.
ACCOMMODATION: The Pig’s Heaven Inn, Ren Rang Street, Xidi Village, Huangshan, Anhui Province, tel 86 559 515 4555, email [email protected], http://blog.sina.com.cn/zhulanjiuba. Rooms from CNY300 (US$44) per night, inclusive of breakfast.
Pig’s Heaven Inn Bishan, Yi County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, tel 86 559 517 5555, email and web address as mentioned. From CNY600 (US$88) with breakfast.
CLIMATE: Spring and autumn are short in Huangshan while summer and winter are much longer. There is a lot of rain throughout the year.
TOUR: About CNY200 (US$29) per day for a guide and about CNY300 (US$44) per day for a car and driver.
