Zhangjiao Village, located in the mountainous area in the northwest of Tuling Town, Quangang District, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, has a long history. The houses built of stones in the village are layered on top of each other in a well-arranged arrangement. In recent years, Quangang District has made full use of the characteristic resources of Zhangjiao Village, focused on developing ecological leisure tourism, and promoted the construction of beautiful countryside.
People in the village said that there is a big camphor tree in the village that is more than 700 years old. People climbed on the tree and overlooked it. The weather after the dog days is extremely hot. Walking in the village, I feel refreshed.
Walking into this group of houses all made of stones, the heavy sense of history fills the air. The pebbles on the wall are all iron-red weathered stones. When building a house, it is based on the mountain, and the layout is not particular about up, down, left, and right. In many families, there are several stone steps to go from one room to another in the same house. There are stone and pebble steps between the households. Generally, the houses are built with stones to the top, and some houses are built with adobe on the upper part. These houses have one thing in common, that is, there are few and small windows, which is said to be considered from the aspect of anti-theft. In the same house, it is necessary to leave even a narrow open-air alleyway or a small patio between the front room and the back room, in order to facilitate ventilation and lighting.
Among the ancient dwellings, the most magnificent and distinctive one should be the “Ruifeng Building”. According to reports, “Ruifeng Building” is located at a high place in the village. It has two floors and is entirely made of random stones. The whole building is covered with stones on three sides to the top, and only three small windows are left on the front wall of the second floor. The gate is beautifully constructed, with carved diabase block stones forming an arched gate. On the lintel is a plaque engraved with the words “Ruifeng” and inscribed with the words “the autumn of the fourth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty”. The bottom wall of “Ruifeng Building” is one meter wide, and the narrowest part on the second floor is more than 70 centimeters. There are three rooms on each side of the building, a small hall at the back, and a large patio in the middle. This structure is somewhat similar to the Tulou in western Fujian. It is a pity that after a fire, the second and third floors were burned because of the wooden structure, and the first floor was rebuilt with stone bricks.
Walking through the stone alley made of pebbles, the walls on both sides are within reach. The houses built of stone are layered on top of each other and arranged in a well-arranged pattern. The narrow and secluded stone alley made of pebbles has been washed by rain, leaving ancient marks on the stone beams. The old vines wrapped around the stone walls add vicissitudes to the stone house. After years of baptism, the stone wall has been mottled, but the reddish-brown, off-white, and navy blue colors it presents are so gorgeous and colorful under the sunlight, just like an oil painting. Once artists from many places have visited Zhangjiao Ancient Houses, they can’t help falling in love with this oil painting-like village.
There are green moss spots in the gaps in the stone walls, making the space of the alleyway dark and quiet. The sunlight can only hit the high roof ridge, and a little light leaks on the wall, which contrasts with the dark alleyway, forming a completely different space from top to bottom. The lanes here are connected to the lanes, the forks are connected to the forks, and the winding paths lead to secluded places, which is quite mysterious like a maze.
