Wuzhouchuantong Residential Building Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Zhuge Village in Lanxi City, Zhejiang Province, now has more than two hundred Ming and Qing dynasty residences; the earliest building there was constructed around the tenth year of the Zhizheng era of the Yuan dynasty (1350). The earliest buildings of Yuyuan Village in Wuyi County date from the Southern Song dynasty, and 130 Ming and Qing residences survive there. The Lu Residence in Dongyang is a large residential complex of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with a floor area of about 17,000 square meters; its famous Suyong Hall was built during the Yongle era of the Ming dynasty. Zhengzhai Town in Pujiang County is an ancient town where the Zheng clan lived together; it was first built in the early Northern Song dynasty and covers an area of about 5,000 square meters. Around the end of the Yuan dynasty, circa 1350, Zhuge Dashi, a twenty-seventh-generation descendant of Zhuge Liang, chose to settle at Gaolong and founded the village. In 1996, the ancient residences of Zhuge Village were listed by the State Council as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
These buildings, with their long history, ingenious layout, and exquisite decoration, fully demonstrate a high level of construction craftsmanship. Wuzhou traditional residences give priority in their design to perfect integration with the surrounding natural environment. Most dwellings are built beside mountains and waters, shaded at the back and facing the sun, amid rising hillocks, with streams and rivers winding through. Some building plans follow the traditional left-right symmetrical form, with lanes and alleys crisscrossing; others adopt an eight-trigram (bagua) layout radiating outward from the center. Building types include ancestral halls, screen walls, memorial archways, stone bridges, halls, shops, schools, stages, granaries, kitchens, and bedrooms, among others — complete in function, and comfortable and convenient to live in. The ancestral hall is the core building of traditional residences in central Zhejiang. It is not only a place for worshipping ancestors but also where clan members gather to discuss affairs and where elders instruct the young; its architectural layout fully reflects the profound influence of Confucian ethical culture. The decorative arts of Wuzhou traditional residences are highly diverse, taking forms such as stone carving, wood carving, brick carving, and painted decoration. Wood carving is applied extensively to beams and purlins, bracket sets, sparrow braces, main doors, and window lattice patterns; the Lu Residence in Dongyang is the most typical example in this respect. Village dwellings generally take the form of grey bricks, grey walls, and horse-head gables on the roofs; some residences, such as the Lu Residence, have stone lions flanking the entrance, inspiring a sense of majesty and solemnity. Thereafter the village grew increasingly prosperous and its fame spread far and wide, until the name of the Zhuge clan was gradually attached to the village's name. Zhuge Village is located in Lanxi City, Zhejiang Province, in the northern part of the central Zhejiang basin, amid rising hillocks, shaded at the back and facing the sun, with mountains behind and waters in front — a setting of great beauty. The villagers designed the overall layout of the village according to the nine-palace, eight-trigram pattern transmitted by their ancestor Zhuge Liang. Within the village, the Bell Pool forms the core, with eight lanes radiating inward and outward to make the inner bagua; outside, eight hills embrace the village on all sides, forming a natural outer bagua.
The central pool and the eight inner lanes
After the village was founded around 1350, the layout followed the nine-palace eight-trigram scheme: a central pool with eight lanes radiating outwards.
Eight hills as an outer bagua
Eight hills surround the village, forming a natural outer bagua that pairs with the eight inner lanes.
The ancestral hall at the centre
The ancestral hall is not only for worship but also for clan meetings and admonition, its layout expressing Confucian ethics.
Grey brick and horse-head gables
Grey brick walls and stepped horse-head gables give the lanes their layered appearance and help keep fire from spreading.
Wood carving on beams, brackets and spares
Carving is applied to beams, brackets, spares, gates and window grilles, most lavishly at the Lu Residence in Dongyang.
Symmetrical plans and radiating layouts
Plans follow either bilateral symmetry with cross lanes or a radiating scheme; the Zhuge village adopted the latter.
The style experts call a model village
The village was listed as a national key cultural relic site in 1996 and its style is regarded as a model of Jiangnan settlements.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Jinhua region in central Zhejiang Province was known in ancient times as 'Wuzhou', and its traditional residences are distributed mainly in Dongyang, Lanxi, Wuyi, and Pujiang.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Wuzhouchuantong Residential Building Craftsmanship · Wuzhouchuantong Residential Building Craftsmanship · Wuzhouchuantong Residential Building Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Among the traditional residences of Wuzhou, Zhuge Village in Lanxi, the Lu Residence in Dongyang, and the Zheng family town in Pujiang are all Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level, while Yuyuan Village in Wuyi is a historical and cultural protected area of Zhejiang Province. To this day, more than two hundred Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasty buildings remain intact within Zhuge Village. With rational layouts, well-proportioned arrangement in rising and falling tiers, eaves and windows echoing one another, lanes running lengthwise and cross, orderly layers, and varied views, they constitute an architectural complex of rich variety and singular form. Its building style — 'grey bricks and tiles with horse-head gables, stout beams, plump columns, and small boudoirs' — has been praised by experts and scholars as a 'model of traditional ancient villages and residences of the Jiangnan region', and it is of high research value in the history of Chinese architecture, folk customs, and related fields.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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