Long Family Compound 龙家大院

About Long Family Compound

The settlement was first built in the Yuanfeng era of the Song emperor Shenzong. Forty-eight old dwellings with more than a hundred rooms survive, mostly of brick and timber, linked by bluestone lanes; the local formula for the layout is 'three halls, nine wells, twenty-four lanes and forty-eight buildings'. Principal buildings inside the complex include the Shishi Tang, the Bade hall and the Dunhou Tang, while a crescent pond, the Pushan Tang and the Longshan school lie outside it. Everyone in the village bears the surname Long and the family is held by local tradition to descend from Long Bogao, prefect of Lingling in the Eastern Han.

The decorative work — wood carving, stone carving, clay modelling and painted panels — is what conservators single out, but the village's particular distinction is epigraphic: 128 old couplets survive, some pasted on and some written directly on the walls, and their content is largely moral instruction tied to the 'eight virtues' precepts attributed to Long Bogao. Seventeen inscribed name boards also survive. The houses are still lived in, so the lanes carry ordinary village life alongside visitors.

What to look for

• The 128 surviving couplet inscriptions on doorways and walls, including the best-known pair on the Bade hall referring to Tao Yuanming and to the prefect of Lingling
• The 17 inscribed name boards recorded in the complex
• The named halls of the complex: the Shishi Tang, the Bade hall and the Dunhou Tang
• The crescent pond, the Pushan Tang and the Longshan school outside the main group of houses
• The wood carving, stone carving, clay modelling and painted decoration on the buildings

Location & getting there

Getting to Long Family Compound

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

• Search for 龙家大院 with 永州市 and 新田县.