A Preliminary study on the landscape of the ancient villages in Wuyuan， Jiangxi Province

許雪婷

Abstract： Taken the ancient village， Huangling， in Wuyuan County of Jiangxi Province as the research object， Huangling is analyzed from ancient buildings， natural landscapes， such as terraces， and local resources. The development mechanism of ancient villages is researched through field trips， analysis and cooperation， in order to provide a reference for the reational development of ancient village landscapes.

Keywords： ancient buildings terraces rational development

Wuyuan County in Jiangxi Province is named after the source of Wujiang， a local river in Jiangxi Province. It is now a country under the jurisdiction of Shangrao City in Jiangxi Province， located in the northeastern part of Jiangxi， bordering on Zhejiang and Anhui Province. Because the local terrain is more rugged， more forested and less arable land， there is also a saying that the local landscape is composed of 85% mountains，1% field， as well as half of the last 1% water way and villages respectively. Wuyuan County is also a cultural and eco-tourism demonstration county in China. It has rich tourism resources， including Jiangwan， Jiangling， Xiaoqi and Huangling. Those attractions earned Wuyuan the reputation of Chinas most beautiful county. Every March， the season of blooming rapeseed， a large number of tourists will come to visit the sea of rape flowers and feel the unique charm of Wuyuan. Due to the topography， the rape flowers in Wuyuan are planted on terraces， and the terraces in Jiangling and Huangling are the best-konwn. Huangling Village is located in the Shier Mountains， covering an area of 15 square kilometers， hence the transportation here is not very convenient. Because the topography here is quite rugged， the village is built along the mountains， and villagers houses are distributed in a stepped fan shape around the water nozzle. The rape flowers of Huangling are famous， but the landscape of its traditional village is more attractive to tourists， which is a rare scenery.

The traditional villages in our country are formed according to the local natural environment. China has abundant natural resources and diverse topography. Different traditional villages have different landscape characteristics in accordance with their local environment， and folk customs also have their own features. Although the history of traditional villages has been long-lasting， it still exudes a strong vitality to serve people. The traditional villages in Wuyuan originates from the southern part of Anhui Province， whose representative of traditional village is Hui culture. Because Hui culture advocates that a good scholar will make an official， the Hui style architecture has the temperament of elegance and noble processed by the literati. The traditional villages in Wuyuan inherit the spirit of Hui culture， and wean themselves largely off dependence on the agriculture. Besides， the thoughts and ideology of villagers here， to some extent， have been influenced by local culture， which makes their perspective different from narrow-mined peasants. Therefore， the Hui style architecture has a strong cultural spirit. Huangling has a history of nearly 600 years and is a traditional village in Huizhou. Around the 1930s， the village was devastated by war， so the old buildings were seriously damaged and the originally style of traditional villages was not in sight. Many cultural relics faced the dilemma of self-destruction. Until recently， the village has created a model for the protection and rational development of old buildings， which has changed that dilemma.

Since Huangling belongs to the hilly area， surrounded by mountains， the terrain slopes from northeast to southwest. The local buildings are affected by geographical environment， and construction land is quite a little， so the houses in the village are strewn at random， which is distributed in a stepped shape. In the plane layout， the scale of houses is flexible， making the unfavorable factors in the topography become favorable ones. The ancient architecture of Huangling in Jiangxi Province has the same character as the Hui style architecture in the southern part of Anhui Province. The building is based on white wall and black tile， parapets， as well as brick and stone carving art. The building distribution is so flexible with certain change that it makes the buildings rich in style， delicate in design and generous in layout. The structure of the architecture is focused on the style of many rows of houses， sitting north and facing south， and leaning against the mountains. The layout is symmetrically distributed on the central axis， including three large houses， the middle one called the hall and the two sides called the rooms. The open space in front of the hall is called patio （or Tianjin in Chinese）， where people living here can enjoy natural lighting and ventilation. When it rains， the rainwater can gather on the open space and cannot flow into others houses. As a Chinese saying goes， “Dont let ones fertile water flow into others field”， which symbolizes good fortune in China. The decoration of Hui style architecture is very beautiful. Woodcarving， tile carving and stone carving are called three kinds of carving art. The craftsmanship is exquisite and the shapes are various and realistic. All of those are reflected in the daily life of the residents， such as the decoration on the furniture， the carving on the screen and the architecture on the ancestral hall. The traditional villages in Huangling are characterized by limited space and dense population， so the density of buildings here is quite high with the features of long streets and narrow lanes. Due to the development of tourism， Huangling has restored the historical street， Tianjie. There are many kinds of shops on both sides of Tianjie， such as home-stay hotels， ink stone shops， and wine shops， which is called Along the River During the Qingming Festival. There are many kinds of flower beds filled with morning glory on both sides of the road， and the wooden materials used in the flower beds are also integrated with the surrounding environment. Built in the cliffs， the space of Huangling is quite small. To solve the problem of no space for drying the crops on the slopes， villagers here form a difference of height on the third floor in their houses. Besides they built wooden frames in front of the houses， which can be used for holding up round bamboo plates. All of those constitute a unique scene， called “dry crops in the sun”. The scene is not only in Huangling， and it also can be seen in the mountainous area of Anhui， Hunan， and Jiangxi. The common crops dried in the sun are chili， corn and chrysanthemum， whose color are beautiful and bright. On holidays， many tourists will be attracted by them. Because of the uneven distribution of buildings in Huangling， there is a certain difference of height. Standing at the highest point， you can see the elegance of the Hui style architecture whose wall is white and tile is black， and you can also feel the life atmosphere from Huangju （a kind of chrysanthemum）， paddies and corns. Huangling Village has a good combination of those two parts， and has developed its own characteristic landscape – Crops Drying House.

The buildings in Huangling are uniquely attractive， while the rape flower planted on the terraces is more attractive to tourists. Since Wuyuan belongs to the hilly area， the terrain is inclined from the northeast to the southwest. In addition， there are many natural barriers and there is no plain land which is suitable for planting rice. In order to solve the food problem， the people of Huangling have built terraces， as well as use the dams to conserve water resource and reduce water and soil loss. In addition， the ventilation and sunlight of the terraces are so good that they can provide the possibility for the growth of rapeseed. However， because the cultivation method of terraces costs too much manpower and the yield is quite low， the cultivation method is gradually eliminated， which later is more suitable for making them become a tourist attraction. Huangling has rich terraces， and the slopes of terraces are different， so the relatively flat places are developed as scenic spots. Every March， the season of blooming rape flowers， countless tourists will be attracted here to enjoy the unique beauty of terraced rape flowers. The rape flowers is gradually reduced from the top to the bottom， and spreads from the top of the mountain to the valley， making the mountains become golden yellow. Only standing on the terraces to see the rape flowers is quite single. To appreciate the rape flowers and feel the terraces from multiple angles， the local authority has planned a tourist route. Tourists can overlook the entire Huangling through high-altitude plank road， which lets them enjoy the Hui style architecture and layered terraced rape flowers at the same time. The white wall with black tile and golden rape flowers are hidden in the mountains， so that tourists can enjoy the beauty of nature. Because of the southerly location of Huangling， the rape flowers mature earlier， and the blooming period is quite shorter. Therefore the blooming period only lasts about a week. From the high-altitude walkway to the valley， the scenery of rapeseed along the road makes tourists enjoy themselves so much as to forget to go home. For increasing the interest of tourism， the local authority also plants many Japanese prunus lannesiana on the way back， which are large and aromatic. When they bloom， the flowers are like a piece of brocade. So planting a large number of prunus lannesiana on both sides of the mountain roads can extend the blooming period in Wuyuan and also enrich the fun of viewing.