A female worker at the Zhu’an Tang Paper Umbrella Factory in Qinghua Town, Wuyuan County, handcrafts a paper umbrella.

This year during China’s National Day holiday in October, I wandered through the picturesque villages in Wuyuan County of Shangrao City, in central China’s Jiangxi Province, where landscape, culture, and history converge so effortlessly that it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Provence in France or Tuscany in Italy.

What sets Wuyuan, and the wider Huizhou cultural region, apart from other rural destinations I’ve visited in China, such as those in Yunnan, Guizhou or Guangxi, is its remarkable accessibility. A convenient three-hour bullet-train ride from Shanghai to Wuyuan station, is followed by a one-hour drive into the heart of this hidden gem. The journey itself is a gentle roller-coaster through mist-clad mountains and tranquil valleys, offering glimpses of a land where white-walled, black ink-eaved Hui-style houses are perfectly mirrored in crystal clear streams.

Like the stone cottages of the Dordogne region in France, or the terracotta tiled farmhouses of Tuscany, Wuyuan charms you with the picturesque symmetry of the relationship between culture and nature. The compositions of white blocks with the calligraphy inky strokes on eaves and roofs evoke images of wandering through a landscape of Chinese classical black and white ink paintings. If the French impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Edgar Degas (1834-1917), had been able to reach Wuyuan, you would no doubt have found them busy behind an outdoor easel, on the outskirts of the many villages. Like all great art, this organic architecture looks equally good from afar, nestled among the curves of the mountains, and close up, you marvel at the intricate wood latticed windows and stone reliefs that adorn the glistening white walls.

A little knowledge of history puts these treasures of design and geomancy into perspective. These houses are the expression of a great rise of wealth in the region for a period of about 600 years, from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) to the early years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). This was the period when traders in the area, known as the Huizhou Merchants, rose from dominating regional market networks, to having a profound influence on national and even international commerce. As part of this is geography, Wuyuan had the good fortune of finding itself at the crossroads of important transport networks. The establishment of Lin’an (present-day Hangzhou) as the Southern Song capital in 1138 acted as a powerful catalyst for Wuyuan’s economy. Strategically positioned near the new imperial center, the region benefited almost immediately from the commercial acumen of the Huizhou Merchants, who skillfully channeled wealth and opportunity into their homeland.

Above all, Wuyuan is blessed with abundant natural resources. For a start there is tea! The surrounding mountains, the misty, humid climate, and the rich soil combine to make the ideal eco-system for tea cultivation. Fields of the emerald green tea leaves cover almost every mountain side. And when the sun sets over Wuyuan, those same tea leaves glisten like gemstones in plantations that stretch to the horizon. Tea from Wuyuan also has a pre-eminent place in history. Wuyuan tea was first praised in The Classic of Tea written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) between 760 and 780 During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Wuyuan tea was sent to the imperial court to gain favor with the emperor. Then under the Qing emperors in the early eighteenth century, Wuyuan tea found its way to Britain and Europe.

An ancient village with white walls and dark-tiled roofs, dotted with towering red maple trees, appears faintly visible through the fog in the Shicheng Scenic Area of Wuyuan County of Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province.

Tea, therefore, is one of the treasures of Wuyuan’s natural economy. Another is the natural materials that make up the 文房四宝, the Four Treasures of the Study, namely the 笔 (brush), 墨 (ink), 纸 (paper), and 砚 (ink -stone).

All four have been produced to the highest quality in this area for generations. The best brush and the best paper came from Jingxian County in Xuancheng City, Auhui Province. However the true homes of the renowned Hui ink sticks and Sheyan inkstones are in Wuyuan itself. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Hongguan Village housed over 200 workshops specializing in walking Hui ink sticks, and the ink supplied to the imperial courts of both dynasties was produced exclusively there. To this day, more than 200 Hui ink sticks from Hongguan Village are preserved and displayed in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Inkstones are natural treasures sourced directly from local riverbeds. Shaped by millennia of geological processes, they acquire a jade-like durability and a lacquer-deep blackness, making them perfectly suited for their purpose. You can visit the workshops of inkstone masters who transform the stone into masterpieces of art work through carving and painting. To hold one is to sense a rare harmony – where the enduring forces of nature converge with the refined skill of the craftsmen.

However, there’s one natural resource of Wuyuan that ranks above even these treasures – the warmth and kindness of the Hui people themselves. Although I have encountered generous hospitality everywhere that I’ve traveled across China, the open hearts of Huizhou people take welcoming guests to a whole new level. Their hospitality can be traced back to local Huizhou culture. The Hui merchants were wanderers, who extended trade networks all over China. Yet this sense of enterprise and adventure was finely balanced by an intense love of home. It was the wealth they accumulated through commerce which graced the Wuyuan villages with such fine architecture and art. This legacy is perhaps best embodied in the village halls, also called ancestral halls. As the name implies, these were initially built as private spaces to honor specific families. Yet uniquely, in this area the halls took on a broader social role as “lineage halls,” serving as gathering places where entire clans could celebrate and strengthen a shared sense of kinship. Neo-Confucian values expressed in the calligraphy and carvings adorning these halls have contributed to a sense of community cohesion in these villages, which survives even in these more commercial, individualized times. I strongly suggest you use the services of a local guide, because you will appreciate the artwork even more if you know something of the stories and ideas they express.

Foreign visitors experience the Shaiqiu (autumn crop drying) culture in Huangling Ancient Village of Wuyuan County on August 7, 2025, to usher in the Liqiu (Beginning of Autumn) solar term.

Moreover, I think this remarkable hospitality may also stem from a deep-rooted aspect of Huizhou culture. Before the unification of China in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), this mountainous area was the home of the Yue culture, which had been rooted in agriculture and rural traditions. Evidence of the enduring influence of the values of farming communities can be seen in the lasting tradition of warmly hosting traveling guests. I met exactly this same cultural value in the rural communities of southern France and Italy. In these societies, it is not uncommon for locals to find themselves on the road, between villages at night, bringing goods or livestock to market and in need of shelter for the night along the way. This of course is something we have lost in today’s fragmented and wary modern world.

While wandering through Wuyuan, you will encounter abundant traces of folk beliefs that continue to shape locals’ daily life. During a recent trip, I was invited to watch the villagers construct a magnificent dragon from woven straw, complete with horns and a blazing red light glowing from its mouth. The dragon was paraded through the village streets on the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival, accompanied by explosions of fireworks and the cheering of the whole assembled community, in which I had the honor of being included.

Some might say that among this ecology of white walls, black eaves, green mountains, blue skies, and crystal waters, you can find your inner balance and harmony. Yet others, including me, will say that this same landscape is a place where you can lose yourself, and in doing so, truly reconnect. I think the true re-balancing occurs not when you take in Huizhou, but when you let Huizhou take you in. I believe we all need this rural experience to balance the stresses and pressures of our increasingly urbanized world. Wuyuan is waiting for you, with open arms and an open heart.  

CHRIS NASH is former chairman of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding and current international education manager of Beijing DaCheng Education Company.