Route Map for Part 2：

October 29th, Lishui - Heyang Ancient Residences - Yanxia Stone Village – Yangjiatang Village

After breakfast, we set off. It was a one-hour drive, and we arrived smoothly at Heyang Ancient Residences in Jinyun County, located in Heyang Village, 1.5 kilometers west of Xinjian Town, Jinyun County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province. The village was originally built at the end of the Five Dynasties and is a Yuan Dynasty ancient residence with a history of over a thousand years. It exudes an antique charm and authenticity, representing a millennium-old village with buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Heyang Village is known as the place with "eight hundred chimneys and three thousand people," and it is an ancient village with a history of more than 1100 years. The water system and roads in Heyang have basically maintained the characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty village design, with ten major clan manor-style ancient residential building complexes and fifteen ancient ancestral halls. Most of the ancient residential buildings are from the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, with only a few constructed at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. The residential compounds are square or rectangular, mainly featuring an eighteen-room structure with a front hall and a rear hall, belonging to the traditional quadrangle layout. 

The area boasts beautiful mountains and clear waters, with a simple and unsophisticated folk culture. It remains a community where families live together, passing down the tradition of farming and reading, making it a rare living fossil of ancient villages in Jiangnan. 

I love everything about this place; it does not have the heavy commercial atmosphere that other ancient villages and streets have. Everything here is quiet and natural, exuding a rich flavor of life and the warmth of daily living.

The famous Jinyun baked scallion pancakes.

The most distinctive feature of the ancient residential outer walls is the 32 horse-head-shaped gable ends, which from a distance resemble proud horses raising their heads and neighing, exuding an extraordinary aura. These gable ends are therefore also called "horse-head walls." The characteristic of the horse-head walls is "black tiles and white walls, with upturned eaves and corners, nestled against the mountains and waters." Ninety-four percent of the residents in Heyang Village have the surname Zhu, and because their ancestral home is Xinyang in Henan province, the village is named Heyang. Thus, the horse-head walls also display the infinite glory and splendor of the Zhu family, inspiring their descendants to strive for excellence and create further brilliance.

"One is not a true Heyang people without passing through the 'Gate of Eight Scholars.'" The street of the Gate of Eight Scholars is not wide, yet it bears all the joys and sorrows of the people of Heyang. It is a necessary path for weddings, funerals, and visits, as well as the best place for villagers to chat, gossip, and engage in lively discussions.

Yanxia Stone Village

In Jinyun, besides the famous baked scallion pancakes, there is also the "stone secret realm" known far and wide – Yanxia Stone Village. 

Most of the houses in this small village are built with stones, which are sparsely yet orderly arranged, creating an overall picturesque scene. Stone bridges, stone paths, and stone houses are all constructed using local materials, with a rugged style, hence the village is also known as the Stone Village. The stone houses in the village feature wooden interiors and exteriors made of uncut stones, presenting a unique style and rigorous layout.

There is a stone-paved road that runs through the village, known as the Putongling Ancient Path, which is about 30 kilometers long and has a history of 1500 years. It was a vital transportation route from Wuzhou and Chuzhou to Taizhou in ancient times, and it was built during the Putong years of the Southern Dynasties under Emperor Wu of Liang, hence its name. In the past, the Putongling Ancient Path was a salt fortress; the salt refined from places like Haiyan had to be transported over this ancient path to reach the territory of Xianju. 

After a three-hour drive, we arrived at Yangjiatang Village in Songyang County. Danny asked me again, "Leena, where is the sea of people you promised?" Because it was Sunday, everyone had rushed back home to get ready for work, who would stay in the village on Sunday? We could easily find a parking spot in the village's small parking lot, which is said to be impossible to find on weekends; one would have to park on the narrow roadside. During holidays, one's own car is not allowed up the mountain; it has to be parked in a designated parking lot in the town, and then we would have to take a transfer minibus arranged between the villages, squeezing in with people and waiting for transfers. This is the current situation of the internet-famous villages in Songyang County; we can only say that our choice of timing was perfect. We could drive up the mountain by ourselves and perfectly avoid the crowds and vehicles of the weekend tourists. 

The chosen guesthouse was perfect. The owner and his wife were out of town because it was off-season, and the owner's mother was in charge, very warm and welcoming. She specially brought the guesthouse staff with a small cart to pick us up at the parking lot because the cobblestone roads in the village could not easily accommodate dragging suitcases.

The courtyard and rooms of the guesthouse were very beautiful. 

After dinner, we took a stroll around the guesthouse to get a feel for the tranquility of this internet-famous village in the deep of the night. There were hardly any tourists, and even the villagers were almost invisible, with only the occasional barking of dogs breaking the silence. 

Yours Truly

Leena Li - Charmission Travel