China Architecture History Art - Anhui Province Huizhou Houses Building Design

This two-volume set Old Houses: Family Houses in the Huizhou Style in Southern Anhui, published by Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House, presents a comprehensive exploration of traditional Chinese residential architecture, specifically the historic Huizhou-style family houses found in southern Anhui province.

With parallel titles in English and Chinese (老房子), these books combine architectural scholarship, historical research, and visual documentation. Through richly illustrated pages and detailed photographic studies, both volumes delve into the unique features, structural elements, and aesthetic principles of Huizhou residences—famous for their white-walled, black-tiled buildings, intricately carved wooden details, and protective courtyards. The Huizhou style reflects the economic prosperity and cultural sophistication of the region’s merchant families, many associated with iconic towns such as Shexian, Xidi, and Hongcun. These villages, now UNESCO World Heritage Sites, offer a glimpse into the architectural legacy and living traditions of southern Anhui.

Volume 1 primarily examines the form and function of various family dwellings, their layout, ornamentation, and how they adapted to local climate and social customs. Volume 2 expands the study, exploring related structures such as ancestral halls, memorial archways (paifang), and entry gates, situating the houses within the broader cultural landscape of Huizhou.

Ideal for readers interested in architecture, history, heritage conservation, and Chinese culture, this set serves as an authoritative reference and an inspiring celebration of a unique regional building tradition that has influenced generations of Chinese design.

Book Details:

Paperback, tight and square binding. Clean pages with no readily visible underlining or writing.

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Huizhou architecture is one of the traditional Chinese architecture styles, which prevailed mostly in the historical Huizhou prefecture of Anhui, China as a critical element of Huizhou culture. Huizhou is a historical region in Anhui Province which roughly corresponds to Huangshan City today – the southernmost region of the province. In Ming and Qing dynasties, Huizhou was a prefecture corresponding to Huangshan city and Jixi County of modern Xuancheng, plus Wuyuan County in northeastern Jiangxi. Anhui, the name of the province, is a portmanteau word combining the first characters of Anqing and Huizhou. Anhui[a] is an eastern inland province of the People's Republic of China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. 

The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, bordering Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a short section in the north.  Urban locations in Anhui include: Hefei - Huainan - Wuhu - Huaibei - Bengbu - Fuyang - Suzhou - Lu'an  - Ma'anshan - Ma'anshan - Anqing - Bozhou - Tongling - Chaohu - Chuzhou - Tianchang - Xuancheng - Chizhou - Huangshan - Tongcheng - Ningguo - Jieshou - Mingguang -  Qianshan.

The word Hui refers to the historical prefecture of Huizhou (or Hui Prefecture) in Anhui Province, which is famous for its merchants. During the period of Ming and Qing Dynasty (about 300 years), the commodity business was mainly dominated by the Huizhou merchants, in Qing Dynasty, Huizhou merchants monopolized the salt-trading industry in China, which made them become peak famous through the country. After they become rich, they go back to Anhui to show off their fortunes and glorify their family name by purchasing lands, squandering consumption, and building luxurious residential houses, gardens, colleges, temples, and memorials. As a result, Hui-style architecture has become one of the major factions of traditional Chinese architecture.

Elements of the architectural style include the crossing-hall layout, also loop-hall layout, a transitional space between the major hall and the inner rooms. The central hall is illuminated by three openings (front, right, and left) which are separated by moving screens for winter warming and privacy. The structure is much into courtyard type, facing south commonly and surrounded by the river and mountain.

Hui-style architecture takes brick, wood, and stone as raw materials, and mainly uses a wooden frame. The beam is always built on a big scale and pays attention to decorate. The middle part of the beam slightly arched, so it is commonly known as "Chinese watermelon beam," with Ming dynasty or Qing dynasty patterns carved on both ends. The middle section of the beam is often carved a variety of patterns, and the whole beam is designed to be magnificent and gorgeous.

The material used for the vertical column is also bulky, and the upper part is slightly thin. The columns of Ming dynasty are usually spindle-shaped, most of them are carved with patterns. Girder does not apply color paint commonly but China wood oil. Patio, balusters, and screen walls are made of bluestones, red sandy stones or granite, which are cut into stone bars, and usually use natural textures of stone materials to combine into carving patterns. The wall uses small black bricks until the horse head wall.

The horse-head wall referred to the wall which was between and higher than the two gable roof walls. Since its appearance was like a galloping horse, the wall was called horse-head wall. The horse-head wall had various types, such as the ‘Magpie Tail Type,’ the ‘Print Bucket Type,’ the ‘Sit Kiss Type’ and others. The ‘Magpie Tail Type’ referred to using the magpie tail shaped bricks as the corner of the horse-head wall. The ‘Print Bucket Type’ referred to using the bucket type bricks as the corner of the horse-head wall. Those bucket type bricks were fired from kiln printed with “卐.” The ‘Sit Kiss Type’ referred to using zoomorphic ornaments as the corner of the horse-head wall.