Explore the region
About Heping Ancient Town
The town's position on the main route into Fujian made it both a stop for merchants and a place where Han culture from the central plains moved south, and its buildings reflect the wealth that followed. Nearly two hundred of the kind of elaborate mansion once common in the central plains still stand here, with grey brick, glazed tile and carved beams. A flagstone street more than 600 metres long, formed at the beginning of the Tang Tiancheng period, runs between the north and south town gates, and close to a hundred cobbled lanes branch off it in a network. Some hundred of the houses carry official titles in their names, among them Dafudi, Zhonghandi, Simadi, Langguandi, Jinshi zhai and Gongyuan zhai.
Heping Academy was founded under the Later Tang of the Five Dynasties and is counted among the earliest academies established in China; it began the practice of schooling run by a clan. Between the Song and the Qing the academy produced 133 jinshi, which is why the town is called the home of jinshi. Official histories record that over the same span the Heping post road produced two chancellors, seven ministers of war and more than two hundred jinshi, and that the Shangguan family alone had more than seventy members in office at the same time. The Song Confucian Yang Shi had his first schooling here, Zhu Xi came repeatedly to lecture, and the Ming commander Yuan Chonghuan left the inscription Kuixing gaozhao for the place.
What to look for
- The flagstone street of more than 600 metres between the north and south gates, with its network of cobbled lanes
- Heping Academy, founded under the Later Tang of the Five Dynasties
- The north gate tower and the east gate tower
- The Huang family Dafudi, the Liao family Dafudi and the Li family Dafudi among the mansions named for official rank
- The former county deputy magistrate's office and the house known as Suijinshi
Location & getting there
Getting to Heping Ancient Town
Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.
- Search for 和平古镇 with 南平市 and 邵武市.
Find Heping Ancient Town
和平古镇 · 邵武市
No reliable map pin yet: search by the Chinese name.
Sources & visit information
The linked sources support the identity and background described in this introduction. Opening hours, admission, activity availability and exact arrival arrangements have not been comprehensively checked. Confirm current visitor information with the venue; the original catalogue locality and editorial review flag are retained.