Guoyu Ancient City

Guo Yu Old Town (郭峪古城) is located in Jincheng, Shanxi Province, China. Accessible by private car or bus, it it located almost directly opposite the House of the Huangcheng Chancellor. Cross the small square and you can buy tickets at the front gate. Once inside, you will be lost in a maze of small courtyards and alleys, decorated with beautifully-colorer umbrellas...providing a perfect backdrop for taking photos. The architecture is old and charming and walk to the back to see the impressive tower for a close-up photo. It is quiet here during the daytime because this place comes to life at night, where it is lit up and many tourists come to witness the pretty spectacle. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area anyway. #2023travelwish #tripblazers #shanxi

Guoyu Ancient City (located in Guoyu Village, North Liu Town, Jincheng City) covers an area of 180,000 square meters, featuring city walls and towers, official residences, private houses, temples and ancestral halls, shops and workshops, gardens and parks, gate towers and screen walls, wells, and ruins. It is not only a group of ancient buildings with local characteristics in the Qin River basin but also a cluster of honeycomb-like ancient castles. It is acclaimed by experts in ancient architecture as a gathering place for Chinese ancient buildings. The existing traditional courtyards maintain their original state in terms of architectural layout, form, material, and craftsmanship. The overall design and construction are the work of local craftsmen, representing an authentic embodiment of the local architectural cultural tradition. It must be emphasized repeatedly: When visiting Shanxi for ancient architecture tourism, be sure to drive yourself. Otherwise, the exquisite places are all in small mountain villages, where transportation largely depends on walking. Even in places where there are occasional vehicles, the directions can be quite confusing. For example, if you want to visit a certain scenic spot in Jincheng City, you might be only 10 kilometers away from it, but you would have to go back to Jincheng City first and then transfer to another vehicle to get there. Transportation is the biggest challenge. In Guoyu Ancient City, I stayed at the old residence of Chen𨑳Jing, as shown in the photos following the copy. The courtyard is divided into a 'field' character layout: the four courtyards of Qin (musical instrument), Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting are exquisitely constructed, a layout that is not commonly seen. Transportation: Take bus 201 from Jincheng East Bus Station to Huangcheng Xiangfu for 1 yuan. The journey takes about 50 minutes.

Speaking of Guoyu Ancient City, many people may be at a loss, not knowing where it is, but if you mention Huangcheng Xiangfu, many people are familiar with it. But these two ancient cities are only 300 meters apart. Moreover, in terms of construction time, Guoyu City came first, followed by Huangcheng Mansion. Guoyu City was built in the eighth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1635), and the entire ancient city was completed earlier than Huangcheng Xiangfu. In order to protect the villagers from the war, the local gentry and businessmen raised funds and built this ancient city in less than ten months. Chen Jingting, who lived in Guoyu Ancient City as a child, was able to avoid the war and reach the peak of his life and the glory of Huangcheng Xiangfu. The city wall of Guoyu Ancient City is 12 meters high and 1400 meters long. Because the inner wall of the city wall is divided into three layers, and there are 629.5 caves of various sizes for garrisoning troops, these caves are densely packed, resembling a honeycomb, so Guoyu City is also known as "Honeycomb City" (Huangcheng Xiangfu also used the same architectural mode for garrisoning troops during construction). The ancient city has three gates, the east gate is the main gate called Jingyang Gate, the west gate is Yong'an Gate, and the north gate is Gongchen Gate. The ancient city has enemy towers, artillery platforms, urn cities, Yu towers, tunnels, etc., especially the Yu tower architecture is exactly the same as the Kaiping Diaolou in the south. As the highest building in the city, it can command combat and serve as a fortress for secondary protection when the city is broken. The most classic is that there is a tunnel in the building that leads directly to a common residential courtyard at the east gate, used as the final escape route. (There is also an escape tunnel in the Diaolou of Huangcheng Xiangfu, but it is not open) Huangcheng Xiangfu is a large courtyard built in order of family rank and inheritance. The residential buildings in Guoyu Ancient City show a typical prosperous and prosperous northern town. There is a main street connecting the east gate in the ancient city, which is the center line of the entire ancient city. Various types of ancient buildings are scattered on both sides, with luxurious and exquisite official residences, elegant and delicate residences, intertwined and built together, showing the deep cultural heritage of the ancient city, and also showing the harmony and harmony of the town life a hundred years ago. It is a unique ancient architectural group in Chinese villages. Guoyu City has gone through more than 300 years of wind and rain, the city wall is broken, during the Republic of China, Fan Yueting (please remember this good official who has done one term and benefited the people) was the village head, and he carried out a large-scale repair of the city wall. After the repair, the enemy tower was majestic, the parapet wall was neat, and horses could pass around the city. During the land reform, the city kiln was divided among individual villagers. At present, the best preserved part of the ancient city wall is only a section near the east gate, and the streets and temples in the city have been repaired. Some residential houses have been repaired, and some residential houses cannot be restored because of new construction. Most of the houses are still mainly for living, without decoration, but they look very natural and simple.

Shanxi, a treasure-like existence in the land of China, compared to Taiyuan, Pingyao, the less popular southern Shanxi region has many suitable health vacation destinations. Here are three treasure homestays I have stayed in, go and encounter endless leisure and beauty👇 . ▪️Changzhi-Yuejiazhai Cliff House Located in the ancient village of Yuejiazhai on the cliff deep in the Taihang Mountains, the entire village has only twenty or thirty households, all of which are built according to the mountain, high and low, scattered. The Cliff House is built on this cliff, with warm and elegant rooms inside, and the endless beauty of the Taihang Mountains outside. On weekdays, we need to exhaust our physical strength to get good scenery, here, it is just a matter of pushing the window. ❗️tips: Address: Yuejiazhai Village, Shicheng Town, Pingshun County, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province Transportation: Since the Cliff House is located on the top of the cliff deep in the Taihang Mountains, there is no public transportation here, you can only drive by yourself, navigate to "Cliff House". Service: Provide Shanxi specialty breakfast, also provide lunch and dinner, simple and rustic Shanxi dishes, let us taste the fresh and delicious from the mountains. Price: Depending on the room type, 480-1280 yuan. - ▪️Jincheng-Guoyu Ancient City Homestay If the Jinshang Courtyard is a scenery that you must not miss when you come to Shanxi, then the castle-style houses are another scenery that you must not miss in Shanxi. In the ancient city of Guoyu in Jincheng, living in an old house with a history of 500 years is like walking into a history book as soon as you step into the door of the homestay. The typical chessboard-style courtyard has the characteristics of typical Shanxi folk houses. Here, enjoy the charm of the old house and visit the ancient city for free. ❗️tips: Address: Guoyu Ancient City Scenic Area, Yangcheng County, Jincheng City Transportation: Drive to Guoyu Ancient City, you can enjoy the ancient city parking lot for free. Service: One-to-one housekeeping service, self-service breakfast, free tour of Guoyu Ancient City Scenic Area. Price: Depending on the room type, 388-1288 yuan. - ▪️Jincheng-Yang Aqing Residence Located in Dayang Ancient Town with a history of more than 2600 years, living in it, you can immerse yourself in the long history of the ancient town and feel the charm of the ancient town for thousands of years. The exquisite vacation life in the homestay also allows us to enjoy the beauty of the ancient city's health vacation! ❗️tips: Address: No. 16, Caishi Lane, Yifen Street, Dayang Town, Zezhou County Transportation: Drive to Dayang Ancient Town, there is a dedicated parking lot for the homestay. Service: One-to-one housekeeping service, located in the scenic area, 20 meters walk to the old street of the ancient town. Price: Depending on the room type, 223-1228 yuan.

The ancient village of Shanxi built a complete city wall 300 years ago, and there are also 15 monuments reserved in Shanxi. In addition to the well-known Pingyao Ancient City and Qiao Family Courtyard, Jincheng City in the southern part of Shanxi Province It is also a place where ancient villages are concentrated. The ancient village tourist attractions in Jincheng are concentrated in Yangcheng County. Yangcheng's most famous tourist scenic spot is the Imperial City Xiangfu, which is the former residence of Emperor Kangxi's teacher Chen Tingjing. Just a few hundred meters beside the Imperial City, there is an ancient city called Guoyan Ancient City. The history is earlier than the Imperial City, but it is covered. The inn staying next to the scenic spot, the advantage is that you can enter the ancient city of Guoyan in the morning, and you don't have to buy tickets before 8:00 in the morning. Guo Yicun has a long history and existed as early as the early Tang Dynasty. However, the construction of the city wall was in the late Ming Dynasty and has been around for more than 300 years. Guo Yu Ancient City is surrounded by a city wall. It is a castle-like ancient village, which is rare in the country. There are three gates in the ancient city. The east gate is called Jingyang Gate, the west gate is Yongan Gate, and the north gate is Gongchen Gate. The ancient city covers an area of about 180,000 square meters and has more than 40 well-preserved houses in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Ming Chongzhen built the city wall in eleven years to protect the ancient village. In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the peasant uprising army in Shaanxi had harassed Guotun Village four times. The whole village suffered heavy casualties. Under the proposal of local nostalgia and wealthy businessmen, the wall was built in just 10 months, and the height was more than 20 meters. More meters long. The ancient city of Guoyan was prosperous in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The talents came forth in large numbers, and a total of 18 people and 15 scholars came out. Coupled with the development of economic prosperity and trade, many large-scale houses in the village have built large-scale courtyard buildings, which have remained so far. The village has built more than 20 large and small temples. The best preserved is the Tangdi Temple. It is the hall of the Nine-Day Hall. The Yuan Dynasty stage of the temple is more than 20 meters. It is magnificent and rare in China. Now Guoyu Ancient City has developed into a local tourist attraction, adjacent to the Imperial City, and is also one of the must-see attractions for tourists to Yangcheng. Many film and television dramas have also been filmed, such as "Don't take the bean bag improperly." Dry Food, Cultural Stationmaster, etc.