Misty rain enters Huizhou, and the mountains and rivers are like ink painting

Located in Shexian County, the ancient city of Huizhou was founded during the Qin Dynasty. Since the Tang Dynasty, it has been the administrative center of Huizhou prefecture, state, and county. Therefore, the county and prefecture governments were both located within the same city, creating a unique style of a city within a city. The ancient city of Huizhou is one of the four well-preserved ancient cities in China and the birthplace of 'Huizhou Studies,' one of the three major local schools of thought in China, known as 'the Zou and Lu of the southeast, the state of ceremonies and rites.' It is an ancient village formed by the continuous proliferation of dozens of generations of the Hu family. About 7 kilometers from the county town, it is also known as Xixi or Xichuan, named after the three streams in the village that flow from east to west. Later, because there was a western ancient post road of Huizhou Prefecture at the three Huali places in the village, with a 'post station' set up, it was renamed Xidi. Xidi was founded in the seventh year of the Qingli era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1047 AD). It is known as the connection point between ancient and modern Chinese history, the museum of ancient residential buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the home of the Peach Blossom Spring, and the art treasure house of ancient residential architecture. The name implies broad and prosperous development. In the first year of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty, the founder of Hongcun, Wang Yanji, suffered from a fire disaster. He moved his family from Qishu Village in Yi County along the creek and built a house with thirteen rooms in the area of Leigang Mountain, marking the beginning of Hongcun. The several hundred residential buildings from the Ming and Qing periods in Hongcun are typical Huizhou-style architecture, known as the 'museum of ancient residential architecture.' Hongcun is a 'village in the shape of a cow.' The ancient people of Hongcun planned and built a cow-shaped village with water channels, Yuezhao, and Nanhu as the main water system. From a high vantage point, the entire village looks like a green ox lying beside the mountain stream.