De'anli in Puning, the former residence of Fang Yao, the Admiral of the Guangdong Navy

De'anli is located in the southern village of Hongyang Town, the old city of Puning, Guangdong. It is a family-style settlement built by Fang Yao, the general of Chaozhou in the late Qing Dynasty, and his brothers. It was built in the tenth year of Tongzhi (1871) and has a history of 150 years. As the largest, best-preserved, and oldest mansion-style architectural complex in the Chaoshan area, De'anli is also a rare mansion-style ancient village in China. The entire architectural complex is divided into three parts: the old village, the middle village, and the new village, according to the construction time. The village has 773 rooms including official halls, ancestral halls, Buddhist halls, study rooms, dining rooms, warehouses, and lofts. Despite the vicissitudes of life, De'anli is still relatively well preserved. Its grand scale and complete architectural style are a gem of Chaoshan residential architecture. With its rare layout and unique design, De'anli has also been included in the textbook of civil architecture of the School of Architecture of South China University of Technology. The layout of the old village buildings is commonly known as 'a hundred birds facing the phoenix', which means that the houses surrounding the main building, the Fang family temple, are exactly one hundred. The hundred houses are like 'a hundred birds' facing the main ancestral hall, and the ancestral hall is like a 'phoenix'. The architectural layout of the new village and the middle village is commonly known as 'four horses pulling a cart'. The large ancestral hall in the middle symbolizes the 'cart', and the buildings on both sides symbolize the 'horses' pulling the cart. The ancestors sitting on the 'cart' are pulled by the descendants symbolizing the 'horses' on both sides, coming from ancient times, the rise and fall of the family, the glory of the ancestors, and the prosperity of the descendants, are all in sight. In addition, there are interesting architectural layouts such as 'three halls across', 'four points of gold', 'downhill tiger', 'one-legged lion', etc. Friends who like to study ancient Chinese architecture can come here to explore. Walking in De'anli, in addition to admiring the ancient architecture, there are many antique shops in the old buildings. Various antiques and old objects are dazzling, which is very suitable for friends who like treasure hunting to taste and explore. Foodies who like food can also taste various special snacks here and experience a different taste journey.