Fuan Historical and Cultural Famous Village, Ancient Residential Museum Downstairs

A traditional Chinese village and a Chinese historical and cultural famous village, Louxia Village in Xibing Town, Fu'an City. Nestled among the mountains, a series of simple and elegant large courtyards are arranged in an orderly manner, grand and imposing. The ancient residences with blue bricks and black tiles, and the cobblestone-paved alleys exude a profound ancient charm. Entering Louxia Village is like stepping into an ancient residential museum. More than thirty well-preserved ancient residences were built from the 13th year of the Jiaqing reign in the Qing Dynasty (1809 AD) to the 4th year of the Xianfeng reign (1854 AD), having endured over two centuries of history. It is the largest and most concentrated group of ancient residential buildings in Fujian Province. The "Mantis Shrimp Wall" and "Guanyin Hood" are distinctive features of ancient residences in Eastern Fujian. Plaques and couplets seen everywhere tell us this is an ancient village that steadfastly inherits Chinese culture. Inside and outside every large residence, one can find clear marks of the farming and scholarly culture. Some ancient houses still bear traces of half-doors, with walls made of more than half a meter thick sanhe soil (a mixture of loess, sand, gravel, and slaked lime), and side doors have horse passageways. From the gate tower to the door frame, and then to the interior hall and windows, various plaques, couplets, and calligraphy paintings—some directly written calligraphy works, others carved calligraphy and various floral and animal patterns—are all rich in traditional culture, such as "Woodcutter Gathering Firewood," "Fisherman Fishing," "Scholar Studying Hard," "Di Qing Martial Arts Competition"... The ancient village has always valued culture and education throughout hundreds of years. Louxia Village has many surnames, mainly Liu, Wang, Chen, Zheng, Peng, Xie, Que, Zhang, Li, Yang, and others. Among them, the Liu family is the most representative, with the largest scale and the most numerous ancient houses built by generations of the Liu family. During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Liu Xiangrong, an ancestor of the Liu family, built the first large residence here, named "Yangzhong House." In the following hundred-plus years, from the Jiaqing to the Xianfeng period, Liu Xiangrong’s descendants built thirty to forty traditional residences with similar appearances centered around Yangzhong House, forming a large-scale and distinctive ancient architectural complex. The Liu family mansions were meticulously planned, reasonably laid out, and carefully constructed by skilled craftsmen, concentrated along the village’s three horizontal main roads. Each large residence is basically the same in size and style, with a layout centered on the main hall, arranged in sequence with the main gate, second gate, courtyard, corridor, and main hall. Beautifully shaped rammed earth or brick walls surround the residences, with water ditches outside the walls connecting to mountain spring water flowing down from nearby hills. These ditches were used for daily water needs and fire prevention to avoid disasters. The details reflect the spirit of craftsmanship, with every section of the simple and weathered high walls engraved with the memories of time. Strolling among the ancient houses of Louxia Village, the cobblestone paths beneath your feet have seen people coming and going for over two hundred years. The rammed earth walls on both sides record long stories. Close your eyes and gently touch them, and the scenes of those years seem to replay before you, with poetry, books, respect, and courtesy...