Zhangguying Village 张谷英村

About Zhangguying Village

Zhangguying Village (张谷英村) is a village of Ming and Qing buildings in Zhangguying Town (张谷英镇), Yueyang County (岳阳县), Hunan. It lies below Bijia Mountain (笔架山) at Weidong (渭洞), east of Yueyang city, where Yueyang County, Pingjiang County (平江县) and Miluo (汨罗) meet.

The village takes its name from its founding ancestor, Zhang Guying (张谷英). Chinese Wikipedia dates the start of building to the 41st year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming (1562) and records two later rounds of extension under the Qing. It puts the village about 70 kilometres from Yueyang city and about 150 kilometres from Changsha (长沙). The building complex became a national key protected cultural relics site on 25 June 2001, the village was named a Chinese Historic and Cultural Village in 2003, and it was rated a national AAAA tourist attraction in December 2014.

The complex is made up of three large clusters: Dangdamen (当大门), Wangjiaduan (王家塅) and Shangxinwu (上新屋). Between them they hold 62 lanes, 206 skywells (天井, small open courtyards) and 1,732 rooms, with more than 50,000 square metres of floor space. The plan follows the lie of the land in a branching pattern. Every main hall and side hall is arranged around a skywell as a courtyard of its own, and these courtyards join up into one continuous whole. The builders gave the houses complete drainage and provided for light, air and fire prevention. A stream runs between the houses, and a fire-fighting pool called "Yanhuo Tang" (烟火堂) belongs to the complex.

Yueyang County's regulations for the village set a protected area of 25.46 hectares whose boundary follows the west bank of the Weixi River (渭溪河) past Dangdamen, Wangjiaduan, Shangxinwu and Changshaduan (长沙塅); those four building groups form the core zone. Within the wider planning area the rules ban quarrying and mining, the unauthorised felling of old trees and any industrial project.

What to look for

• Dangdamen (当大门), one of the three main building clusters and part of the core protection zone
• Wangjiaduan (王家塅) and Shangxinwu (上新屋), the other two large clusters
• The 206 skywells (天井) around which the halls are arranged
• The 62 lanes of the complex
• The stream that runs between the houses
• The fire-fighting pool "Yanhuo Tang" (烟火堂)

Location & getting there

Getting to Zhangguying Village

• Search for 张谷英村 with 岳阳市 and 岳阳县.