Wuyuan Huangling: A 600-Year-Old Ink Painting Wonderland in the Misty Clouds

When the first ray of morning sunlight pierces through the thin fog, the Hui-style horse-head walls of Huangling begin to sing the story of six hundred years. This ancient village, built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, is like a long ink painting soaked by time, hanging on the green mountains at an altitude of 500 meters.

🌄 **The Cliffside Kingdom of Autumn Drying**
The people of Huangling create miracles on the steep cliffs with bamboo racks—fiery red chili peppers and golden chrysanthemums spread out in front of the eaves, colliding with white walls and black tiles to form a stunning "autumn drying" spectacle. The drying racks here have been used since the Ming Dynasty. Standing in the ancient alleys of Tianjie and looking up, you can almost see the merchants of the Ming and Qing Dynasties transporting Hui chrysanthemums along the ancient Tea Horse Road.

📜 **The Hui Merchants’ Code in the Weathered Walls**
1️⃣ **Wugui Hall**
This grand Hui merchant residence from the Qianlong era hides the "Three Carvings of Wuyuan": stone carvings of pine and crane symbolizing longevity on the door lintels, wooden carvings of plum blossom patterns on the window lattices, and even brick carvings of "loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and righteousness" tucked into the seams of the blue bricks. The second-floor beauty seat faces the mountains directly; back then, young ladies in the boudoir would gaze here, longing for the return of their brothers and fathers who ventured afar.

2️⃣ **The Strange House**
A tilted house defying gravity! Inside, water flows uphill, and tables and chairs hang upside down. This Ming and Qing Dynasty old residence, designed with optical illusions, was actually a wisdom test for Hui merchant apprentices to prove their "righteous heart and sharp eyes."

🍁 **My Immersive Experience in Huangling**
- Riding the hundred-meter-high "Terrace Cableway" through the sea of clouds, beneath me are layers of rapeseed flower fields (even more stunning in spring!)
- Learning to make rice cakes at Zhongwu Square, where the master said the wooden mallet must pound 108 times to make it sticky enough, echoing the "Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends"
- Staying overnight in a beautiful autumn drying guesthouse, where opening the carved wooden window reveals the Milky Way falling onto the tips of the horse-head walls

As dusk bathes the ancient village in amber light, the drumbeats of the bench dragon dance suddenly sound in front of the ancestral hall. The flying eaves and upturned corners that once dazzled in TV dramas like "The Lonely Flower Does Not Self-Appreciate" are now vividly alive before my eyes, carrying the thousand-year-old smoke and fire of everyday life.

Post by ArcherSilverstone23 | Sep 19, 2025