Anhui architecture shows glamor of history

Hongcun village, a 900-year-old settlement located at the foot of Mount Huangshan, boasts typical Anhui-style architecture and carvings that are said to be among the best-preserved of their kind in China. The village became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

Seen from above, the village resembles an ox with a nearby hill as its head and two trees as its horns. Buildings in the village form its body while four bridges that span Jiyin stream constitute its legs. The opening scene from Oscar-winning director Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was partially filmed on one of the bridges.

Hongcun once housed 150 families and ranked as one of the most affluent villages in ancient China. Nearly all of the men were Hui (old name for the region) merchants, part of a group of businessmen who dominated trading in the country for hundreds of years. They spent a fair amount of their fortune from trading salt and tea on decorating their homes.