Anren Ancient Town Stone Carvi

Anren Ancient Town Stone Carvings | The Mark of Time on Stone, the Ingenious Beauty of a Millennium-Old Town

Located near Chengdu, Anren Ancient Town is renowned not only for its well-preserved Republican-era architecture but also for the unique charm of the stone carvings that pervade its streets. These carvings, like the town's silent memories, carve history and human sentiments into the stone.

Walking along the bluestone-paved streets, stone carvings are everywhere: flowers, birds, and animals on door lintels, opera characters in ancestral halls, stone lions and drums in courtyards... Each one is meticulously crafted, with lines ranging from strong to graceful. These carvings are more than just decoration; they are symbols: prayers for prosperity, wealth, longevity, and happiness, records of family honor, and even expressions of reverence for nature.

Anren's stone carvings often bear a strong Bashu style, combining the simplicity and refinement of western Sichuan dwellings. With their chisels, generations of craftsmen have engraved life's joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness, as well as auspicious meanings, into the cold, hard stone. As time goes by, the edges and corners of the stone carvings may have been eroded by wind and rain, but the craftsmanship is still clearly visible.

Post by 諸文武 | Sep 15, 2025