Opening the door of time, on the Loess Plateau of Lingshi, Shanxi, a magnificent group of houses lies dormant like a giant dragon between the vast world. This is the Wang Family Courtyard, a place where family epics are engraved with bricks and stones, and carved beams tell the vicissitudes of time. It is not only a witness to the glory of Shanxi merchants, but also a culmination of traditional Chinese architectural art, allowing everyone who steps into it to touch the temperature of time and the weight of civilization.
This courtyard, known as the "Folk Forbidden City", was built by the Jingsheng Wang family over hundreds of years. From the rammed earth courtyard in the late Ming Dynasty to the carved beams and painted buildings in the Qing Dynasty, every blue brick is soaked in the wisdom of merchants and the hard work of craftsmen. Five castle-style buildings are built on the mountain. Among the scattered courtyards, more than 80 courtyards and 1,238 houses are stacked, as if carving the entire hillside into a three-dimensional art scroll. Walking through the courtyard, you can hear the camel bells ringing in your ears and see the caravans trekking on the Silk Road. This was once the home of the giant Shanxi merchants who controlled the tea, salt and iron business. Wealth and glory were deposited here as eternity between bricks and tiles.
The architectural beauty of Wangjiayuan lies in its perfect fusion of practicality and art. Between the high walls and deep alleys, the defensive and residential functions are integrated: the towering fortress walls can resist foreign enemies, and the exquisite drainage system turns rainwater into a tinkling spring in the courtyard; every window lattice is a poem in the hands of the craftsman, and the ice cracks and plum blossom patterns flow in the light and shadow, which not only ventilates and lights, but also implies the auspicious meaning of "lotus grows step by step". Walking into the "Three Sculpture Art Museum", the wooden peony has bloomed on the beams for a hundred years, the stone lion is still majestically guarding, and the brick-carved grape vines are winding, as if they will bear purple jade-like fruits in the next second. These solidified carvings are the craftsmen's tribute to life, and are also the most vivid footnotes to the spirit of the Wang family "starting from business and passing on poetry and books".
Walking between "Hongmenbao" and "Gaojiaya", the breath of history flows between the lintels and plaques. The couplet "loyalty and honesty are passed down for a long time, poetry and books are passed down for generations" reveals the secret code of the Wang family that has lasted for hundreds of years: honesty is the foundation of business, and poetry and books are the root of life. Here, the copper coins of merchants and the ink fragrance of literati are wonderfully blended - the account office and the academy are built next to each other, and the business and Confucianism are in dialogue under the eaves. The imperial examination reports and literati's handwritten notes collected in the courtyard, together with the abacus and account books, tell the legend of this family "both Confucian and business". When the sunset gilds the plaque of "Dunhou House", it seems that you can see the owner in Confucian clothes, looking for a balance in life between copper coins and poetry scrolls.
Today, Wang's Courtyard has shed the hustle and bustle of merchants' residences and has become a breathing museum. In spring, lilacs bloom in the courtyard, in summer, trumpet creepers climb on the walls, in autumn, ginkgo trees dye the green bricks golden, and in winter, snow outlines the silver edges of the eaves. The footsteps of tourists have replaced the noise of the past, but those bricks and stones, which have been polished by time, are still silently telling stories about tenacity, wisdom and inheritance. Standing in the "Guanzhi Pavilion" and overlooking the whole courtyard, the layers of eaves rise and fall like waves, the green mountains in the distance are like dark green, and the ancient trees are towering nearby - this solidified epic is engraving the legend of Shanxi merchants, the spirit of craftsmen, and the family's beliefs forever in the depths of the Loess Plateau in its own unique way.