Defensive towers
Above the rooftops.
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A walled family stronghold on Phoenix Hill covering ten hectares above a valley in south-eastern Shanxi, where courtyard houses step down the hillside beneath defensive towers and high crenellated walls that split it into an inner and an outer town; the Chinese call it «the greatest cultural residence in North China». The Chen family began building here around the 1440s; they were farmers who grew rich from coal mining and then put their wealth into educating their sons, producing sixty-six officials and thirty-three poets under the Ming and Qing. The inner town was fortified in 1633 to shelter the family and villagers from the unrest of the late Ming, and the outer town was added in 1703 for Chen Tingjing, tutor to the Kangxi Emperor and chief editor of the famous Kangxi Dictionary; the emperor himself visited. Visitors wander through courtyards, halls and narrow lanes between the walls, and climb the ramparts to look over the packed rooftops and the valley; it has been rated 5A since 2011. Tickets cost CNY 120 from April to October and 100 the rest of the year, and it is open from 8 am to 6 pm in summer and until 5 pm in winter, per visitor guides.
Above the rooftops.
A walk above the valley.
Homes of the Chen family.
Huangcheng village, Yangcheng County, about 30 km west of Jincheng city, Shanxi
Chen Tingjing, tutor to the Kangxi Emperor and chief editor of the Kangxi Dictionary, for whom the outer town was added in 1703.
Choices are few in the village, so bring food and look in Jincheng city for restaurants run by Hui Muslims under the halal sign.