The Wan Nan version of the Thousand Mile River and Mountains painting, an ancient village floating in the clouds
Shitan Village in Shexian County, Anhui, is an ancient village with a history of over 800 years. It was the ancient thoroughfare for Huizhou merchants from Jingde and Shexian to Hangzhou via the Xin'an River; it is also the third batch of traditional Chinese villages.
【History】
During the Jianyan period of the Song Dynasty (1137), Wu Qi, the progenitor of Shitan, and his eldest son Wu Wei moved to Shitan Village
【Geographical Features】
Built embracing the Huayuan River and residing against Liuting Mountain, the village uses the natural river as its lifeline and the crisscrossing streets as its network. There are ancient ancestral halls, water mouths, temples, bridges, and wharfs in the village, especially the ⭐Xulun Hall⭐ built during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, which has 100 beams and is known as the 'Hall of a Hundred Beams'.
【Huangshan City's Top Photography Spots】
Shitan Village can see the sea of clouds on more than 200 days throughout the year. Especially from March to May each year, the rapeseed flowers, peach blossoms, pear blossoms, and sunflowers in Shitan bloom in succession, attracting countless tourists and photography enthusiasts to come and enjoy a feast of clouds and flowers.
【Xiatai Viewing Platform】
Photography enthusiasts can drive directly to the highest and best-viewed 【Xiatai Viewing Platform】.
The altitude here is about 500 meters.
Looking out, layers upon layers of mountains stretch to the horizon, and the cloud-top homes in the mountainside seem like a fairyland of 'unknown evenings'.
Green mountains and long rivers are interspersed with lush fields and homes with white walls and black tiles, with rising smoke curling up, dreamlike and illusory.
When the author visited in January, although it was not the most beautiful season in Shitan, she was still like a delicate and bright Jiangnan woman with a charming smile.
At sunset, nature, the omnipotent painter, sketches the most changeable and gorgeous colors, from the dazzling gold when first climbing the mountain, to the soft orange-red when the sun slowly 'kisses' the horizon, to the final splendid purple and light blue after completely falling below the horizon.
This dynamic, unique Wan Nan version of the Thousand Mile River and Mountains at dusk painting is simply mesmerizing.
🚘Address: Xiakeng Town, Shexian County, Anhui
🚵🏻♂️Navigation: "Shitan Village"
For photography only, 📣 navigate to "Xiatai Viewing Platform", both the viewing platform and the pavilion above are very photogenic.
🚶🏻Route: There is a one-hour walking route from the village to Xiatai;
For tourists without a car, there are local vehicles that can take you to the viewing platform for around 15 yuan.
⭐Surroundings: Xin'an River Landscape Gallery, Changxi Village, Yangchan Tulou, Yuliang Dam