If you go to Yuncheng, you can't miss the Li Family Mansion

Touring Shanxi, an important project is to see the mansions. Qiao Family Mansion, Wang Family Mansion, Cao Family Mansion, etc., are too numerous to mention. In Yuncheng, southern Shanxi, there is a relatively unknown Li Family Mansion. This mansion is the 'newest' one, with its main buildings being less than a hundred years old. Therefore, its architectural style is not entirely traditional Chinese. Many building complexes have obvious Western styles, and the residence of the mansion owner, Li Ziyong, is a completely Western-style house, with fireplaces, sofas, and mattresses, which are rare even in Guangdong coast at the same time. The locals in Yuncheng proudly claim that the Li Family Mansion covers more than ten Wang Family Mansions. Although it's an exaggeration, it's true that the Li Family Mansion is so large that it can make people's feet hurt. If you look carefully at the more than 20 courtyards, it might take a whole day. In fact, the highlight of the Li Family Mansion is not simply its size, but its rich architectural art features and more functionality. The Li Family Mansion is more like a luxurious official residence than other courtyards, with many grand gate towers and pavilions. The exquisite wood carvings, stone carvings, and brick carvings are indeed ostentatious. This is obviously related to its construction period. It was only from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China that the rich dared to take such risks. In addition to the courtyards for living, the Li Family Mansion also has a private school, a library, a farm tool yard, and other functional buildings that occupy a large area, more like a small town, fully functional. In fact, the Li Family Mansion has been filmed in TV dramas and movies, but it is not as famous as 'Qiao Family Mansion'. However, the story of the Li Family Mansion is more dramatic. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the head of the Li family, Li Ziyong, was sent to study in the UK. When he graduated, he brought back a foreign girl, Miss Mai, and married her back to the remote and closed Shanxi, which caused a sensation for a while... As time goes by, the mansion today actually only retains half of its area from back then. The bustling big family has dispersed, leaving a nearly thousand-acre lonely mansion for later generations to visit and play, which is inevitably sighing. If you go to Yuncheng, you can't miss the Li Family Mansion.