Loushang Ancient Village 楼上古寨

About Loushang Ancient Village

The village was originally called Zhaiji; the long lane running beneath a multi-storey house by a ditch was called Louxiang, and the county page says that because xiang and shang sound alike the villagers came over time to call the place Loushang. It stands 15 kilometres from the county town, with 4 villager groups, 150 households and 547 residents across a scenic area of about 4.2 square kilometres, and local customs still practised there include mountain-song singing and suona horn playing. The village is a lineage settlement, its residents nearly all surnamed Zhou; the county government's page records that the founding ancestor Zhou Boquan settled here in the sixth year of the Ming Hongzhi era, which that page itself dates to 1496, and the lineage has grown to nineteen generations and more than 4,000 people.

The old village faces southwest with its back to the mountain, laid out in the shape of the Chinese character for longevity, with all its lanes paved in bluestone. Among its dwellings is one built of masang wood dating to the mid-Ming period, which the county page says survived intact when Miao forces burned houses in the village in 1862, because masang wood does not burn easily. The Zitong Pavilion, covering about 3,000 square metres, was founded in the Ming Wanli era and enlarged, renovated and extended over the Ming and Qing dynasties; it was burned down by Miao rebels in the second year of the Tongzhi era and rebuilt by the sixth year of the same era (1863 and 1867 by the standard calendar) under a monk-abbot, a history recorded on its own reconstruction stele. The village theatre, built in the late Qing dynasty, has a central stage flanked by corridors once used for costume and props, and is now used mainly for puppet-theatre performances.

An old-tree grove of about 60 mu holds crape myrtle, sweet osmanthus, red maple and cypress, including seven old maple trees up to 40 metres tall arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper. The Nangui bridge, a single slab of bluestone about 3 metres long and some 20 tonnes in weight, was built in 1629 by Zhou Guozhen and said to have been quarried 3 kilometres away; the county page records that the nanmu and osmanthus trees that once flanked it and gave it its name had already been broken by wind by the time of writing.

What to look for

• The Zitong Pavilion, with its own reconstruction stele recording its Ming and Qing history
• The masang-wood dwelling, one of the village's oldest houses, said to have survived the 1862 burning because the wood resists fire
• The old-tree grove of crape myrtle, osmanthus, red maple and cypress, including seven old maple trees arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper
• The Nangui bridge, a single bluestone slab bridge built in 1629
• The late-Qing village theatre, still used for puppet-theatre performances

Location & getting there

Getting to Loushang Ancient Village

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

• Search for 楼上古寨 with 铜仁市 and 石阡县.