Baijian Lou and The ancient buildings complex

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As a famous historical and cultural tourist site, Nanxun District hasmany ancient constructions. Aged buildings can be seen everywhere, and they become attractive sights. Among them, Baijian Lou is the most famous old building complex.

Situated in the northeast of Nanxun Town, Baijian Lou in fact is a group of houses. It is said that Dong Fen, who was the minister of the Department of Rites in the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), builtBaijian Lou these houses for the servants in his family.”Baijian”means”one hundred rooms”in Chinsese, and”Lou”means”building”.”Baijian Lou”means a group of buildings which have many rooms. When the construction of Baijian Lou was completed, there were about one hundred rooms in all.

That is why the ancestors named it Baijian Lou, and the name has been keptup to now. The ancient building complex goes along the eastern and western banks of an ancient river that runs through the town, and the houses on both sides are connected by stone arch bridges over the river, especially the houses in the section from Lotus Bridge to Long Bridge are neatly arranged.

White walls, dark green roofs, portal gates, and terraced streets as well as flowing water and moving boats are well-matched to one’s eyes. The picturesque passages by the river from end to end reflect the original flavor of an ancient town in southern China. The river way, which runs through the Baijian buildings, used to be a channel for shipping goods in and out. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368),a rampart was built, and it gradually became part of the moat. Later, warehouses and stores came out one after another by the stone-piled banks. The river had many quays that boats could be tied up for loading and unloading. For the convenience of business, the houses by the river were divided into two parts, the front part with the exposure to the river used for business, and the back of the house used forresidence. These houses are constructed in a row together, but obstructed by their high sidewalls. The parallel high and low walls are in graceful disorder.

The tops of the walls are tastefully designed and built in different shapesthat give tourists boundless imaginations. The small stone arch bridges overthe flowing river at a certain distance, two slabstone-paved streets on both sides of the river punctuated by arch gates, and the attached row houses with green dark tileroofs make up the typical scenic view of “small bridges, flowing water and dwelling houses”. Baijian Lou totals more than 400 meters in length with a history of over 400 years. It is one of the best preserved ancient civilian residences in China.