Laotian Ancient Village

Laotian Ancient Village is located in Jiuhua Township, Mount Jiuhua Scenic Area, Chizhou City, Anhui Province, on the west bank of the Jiuhua River, facing Jiuhua New Street and the Dayuan Cultural Park Scenic Area across the river. The village covers an area of 8.2 square kilometers and administers 16 village groups. Surrounded by beautiful mountains and rivers, the village enjoys a pleasant ecological environment, a favorable climate, and picturesque scenery.

Laotian Ancient Village was first established during the Western Han Dynasty, with a history of over 2,000 years. According to records, the Wu clan of Laotian moved from Jiaxing, Tongzhou, Henan Province (present-day Tongbai area) to settle here in the 2nd year of the Shenjue era of the Western Han Dynasty (58 BC). The clan has been passed down for over eighty generations, spanning more than 2,080 years. In the 13th year of the Tianbao era of the Tang Dynasty (754 AD), the Poet Immortal Li Bai, at the invitation of his friend Wei Zhongkan, the magistrate of Lingyang (present-day Qingyang County), visited Mount Jiuhua. Passing through Laotian Village, he composed a poem in praise: "The primal chaos had already been divided, and the rivers and skies are now mapped. Before there was a map of Jiuhua, there was already the Wu of Laotian." This verse has been passed down to this day, bearing witness to the profound historical heritage of Laotian Village. According to the Genealogy of the Wu Clan of Laotian, from the Western Han Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Wu clan produced 301 xiucai (scholars who passed the county-level imperial examination), 386 taixuesheng (students of the Imperial College), and 73 juren (provincial graduates) who entered official service. The Wu clan has always valued scholarship and official careers, and throughout the dynasties, they fostered a flourishing literary culture. Among their cultural heritage, three gems stand out: the cliff inscriptions of Wu Zhong and Wu Guangyu from the Ming Dynasty, the One Hundred Plum Blossom Poems by Wu Xiang from the Qing Dynasty, and the couplets inscribed by famous members of the Laotian Wu clan.

Laotian Ancient Village is rich in cultural relics and historic sites. Within the village, many ancient buildings and structures are preserved, including ancient folk houses, ancestral halls, ancient lanes, ancient wells, and ancient stone bridges, largely retaining the village layout of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The main ancient structures include the Jiuhua Xingci Shrine, the Wu Clan Ancestral Hall, Chiyang Scholar's House, Renli Memorial Archway, Xincheng Old Residence, Yudai Water Street, Yunxi Scholar's House, Bazi Gate Tower, and Yijia Chaomen (First Armor Gate Tower). Among them, the Grand Ancestral Hall of the Wu Clan, located at the northern end of Laotian Village, was first built during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty and has a history of over 400 years. This ancestral hall is a one-story brick-and-wood structure, reflecting the architectural style of southern Anhui folk houses. It adopts a courtyard layout with water from the four sides flowing into the hall (a traditional design symbolizing wealth gathering), facing south with its back to the north, and is a typical ancestral hall of southern Anhui from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Inside the hall is the "Sanzhi Hall", which takes its name from the concept of "governing the self, governing the family, and governing the state," in line with Confucius's idea of "cultivating oneself, harmonizing the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world."

Laotian Ancient Village has also revitalized 15 idle ancient folk houses through a model of "ancient house leasing + cooperative development", introducing over 20 commercial entities such as Shanben Handicrafts, Laotian Old Wine, Nanshan Guqin Society, Ancient Porcelain Coffee, Guqin Cultural Experience Hall, and Jiuhua Old Cloth Shoes. Among them, Tang Keyi, a guqin inheritor, has settled in and opened a public-benefit guqin class, attracting more than 50 guqin enthusiasts to learn, and receives over 500 visitors per month.