A well-preserved ancient village of 636-year history was
discovered in the central part of Southwest China's Guizhou
Province recently.
The village, named Baojiatun, was located in Anshun city, 75
kilometers away from the provincial capital Guiyang and 60
kilometers away from China's largest Huangguoshu waterfall.
Bao Shixing, a noted Chinese expert specific on urban planning,
told Xinhua Friday that the village has been proved a legacy of the
early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and it still preserves ancient
architectures and dresses of that period.
According to Bao, the village was older than the two ancient
villages discovered in the southern part of east China's Anhui
province, the Xidi village and Hong village.
Bao said the forefather of the village was taken down as Bao
Fubao, a general of Ming's first emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Today, 88
percent of the village's 2,200-residents are surnamed Bao.
As the village was first built for military purpose in 1369, its
residential buildings were distributed in line with the Chinese
ancient philosophic picture -- the Eight Diagrams -- an octagon
formed of eight combinations of three whole or broken lines.
According to Bao, the village also preserved an irrigation
system built in the Ming Dynasty, which was noted as "small
Dujiangyan" and the irrigation system is still operational in the
village today.
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Bao said as an important heritage, women in the village still wear
ancient-style dresses in the same design with the dresses of
Empress Ma, wife of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.
In addition, an ancient martial art with a history even longer
than the famous Shaolin Martial Art in Henan province is also
popular today in the village.
The village also preserved a traditional military-oriented local
opera-Nuo opera, and the opera has also been listed a key part of
Guizhou local operas, said Bao.
According to Bao, discovery of the village has aroused attention
of the Ministry of Construction and the State Administration of
Cultural Heritage, and a group of experts have drafted a protection
outline to the ancient village for better preservation of the
ancient heritage.
(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2006)
