The Forgotten Ancient Village - Guoyu Ancient City

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.