By LU ZHONGPING

THE Yellow river, the second longest in China, billows through the Shanxi-Shaanxi canyons. On its west bank in Shaanxi is an historical city -- Hancheng, birthplace of Sima Qian, author of Records of the Historians and inaugurator of Chinese biography. Within the city limits is a village with a 670-year history -- Dangjia.

History

Dangjia Village is located in a long, narrow gourd-shaped valley. Viewed from aloft, it appears as a vista of 120 quadrangles built with celadon brick walls and black tile roofs. The Bishui River south of the village flows leisurely towards the Yellow River just 3.5 kilometers east. Bounded by the Liangshan Mountains to the west and the Yellow River to the east, the village sits on a high terrace in the valley that faces the sun but is sheltered from wind, so is virtually dustless. The valley beneath it makes for easy draining. There have been no floods in Dangjia for hundreds of years.

It was in 1331 that the Dang clan ancestors first claimed sanctuary from famine in the valley. They dug out cave dwellings and farmed for living. After 100 years, the Jia clan ancestors came to the village to do business and married into the Dang clan, bringing a second surname to the vicinity. The two clans ran businesses together right through to the Qing Dynasty, when Dangjia entered its “golden age” and villagers embarked on large-scale building for more than 100 years. During its period of prosperity, Dangjia had hundreds of quadrangles and 11 ancestral temples and Bodhisattva shrines. Today, the village has 320 households and a population of over 1,400. In recent years, it has been named an Historical and Cultural Relic and placed within the provincial protection program. Dangjia has also been included in an international traditional dwelling research project.

Architecture

Dangjia has 125 well-preserved Ming and Qing quadrangles that are on similar lines to Beijing siheyuan quadrangles but in a different style. Dangjia Village dwellings are garnished with stone, wood and brick carvings. Almost every lintel bears inscriptions that go back for generations. Hutongs are cleanly paved in smooth stone slabs. The villagers believe in geomantic omens, and their hutongs never crisscross one another but connect in a labyrinth of T-shaped intersections, making it difficult for strangers to find their way.

In the deep Hutongs of Dangjia Village are vistas of high gate towers that match the two-story houses behind them. The gateways open to the right of the courtyards and never face those across the lane from them directly. In front of the gate towers are stone stakes for tethering horses and stepping stones for mounting.

The Qing Dynasty-built Wenxing Pavilion in the southeast part of the village is the most obvious landmark in Dangjia. Since the village rises higher to the northwest, the pavilion was built as a geomantic omen to balance the terrain.

In traditional society, merchants occupied the lowest social stratum. When village merchants prospered they invested in their offspring, giving them a good education in the expectation that they would secure official positions. From 1821 to 1875 of the Qing Dynasty, the village produced five Juren (successful candidates at the provincial level imperial examination), and 55 Xiucai (candidates that passed the examination at the county level).

Home Fortress

If you travel along the east slate road and climb a slope there you will see a robust fortress wall with a high gate tower. This is Biyang Fortress.

Villagers who had grown rich were liable to be attacked, so in the Qing Dynasty Xianfeng Reign, 27 families united to build the Biyang Fortress and defend themselves from insurrectionists and bandits. On the wall and gate tower used to stand dozens of cannons. The wall commands a panoramic view of the village.

As Dangjia Village’s reputation spreads, villagers do all they can to make their homes look their best and to add interest to the village by exhibiting curios, demonstrating milling and looming techniques and selling hand-woven linens and embroidered children’s shoes in their homes.

Dangjia Village is a live fossil of an agricultural civilization, where well-off families lived in the style they chose within the confines of ancient society.