Jiang Family Manor 姜氏庄园

About Jiang Family Manor

The compound's perimeter wall is built of stone blocks 9.5 metres high, with a parapet on top, like a city wall. A mountain path climbs from the valley floor, paved with stone slabs set on edge and with stone steps along both sides, and the roadway between them serves as both a cart track and a flood channel; it zigzags up to the compound's single gate tunnel, above which 姜耀祖 inscribed 大岳屏藩. Inside are three courtyards – a lower, a middle and an upper – backing onto a cliff face one behind another. The Yulin Daily feature singles out the compound's three carving arts: brick, wood and stone.

The Yulin Daily feature, which covers several manors across the region, says Mizhi retains the most private compounds of this kind and names three it calls famous – 马氏庄园, 姜氏庄园 and 常氏庄园. It gives 姜氏庄园 a build time of sixteen years, with a well-known Beijing architect engaged for the design, and calls the compound an outstanding representative of northern Shaanxi's castle-style cave-dwelling architecture. The national register records the site as entry 792, number III-495, era Qing, address Shaanxi, Mizhi County, under State Council notice 国发〔2006〕19号.

What to look for

• The perimeter wall of stone blocks, recorded at 9.5 metres high with a parapet on top, like a city wall.
• The zigzag approach from the valley floor, paved with stone slabs set on edge and with stone steps on both sides, its middle roadway doubling as a flood channel.
• The compound's single gate tunnel, with 姜耀祖's own inscription 大岳屏藩 above it.
• The three courtyards – lower, middle and upper – backing onto a cliff face one behind another.
• The brick, wood and stone carving that the Yulin Daily feature singles out.

Location & getting there

Getting to Jiang Family Manor

Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.

• Search for 姜氏庄园 with 榆林市 and 米脂县.