Courtyards
On the hillside.
Windmemories — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Windmemories — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Windmemories — CC BY-SA 4.0 · greg_kf — CC BY 3.0 · Gary Todd — CC0 · Gary Todd — CC0 · Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China — CC0 · Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China — CC0
A vast complex of houses and courtyards built by the wealthy Kang family on a hillside above the Luo River, home to twelve generations of the family for some four hundred years from the late Ming to the early twentieth century; it is one of China's three great landlord manors and a protected national monument since 2001. The family made its fortune from the salt trade, river shipping and wide lands, and tradition says the Empress Dowager Cixi dubbed them «Kang the millionaire» in 1901 after one of them gave a million taels of silver to the court. The complex climbs like a fortress from halfway up the hill to the top, its plan likened to a golden turtle stretching its head to the water, and it was a small self-sufficient world with its own mills, granaries and school. Visitors wander through courtyards and narrow brick passages, rooms furnished with carved wooden furniture, and fine stone and wood carving on the walls and doors. Tickets cost CNY 50, and it is open from 8.30 am to 6 pm from May to September and to 5.30 pm the rest of the year, per visitor guides.
On the hillside.
In stone and wood.
In period rooms.
Zhuangyuan Road, Kangdian town, Gongyi, about 60 km west of central Zhengzhou, Henan
Yes, Gongyi lies between Zhengzhou and Luoyang, so the manor can be paired with Luoyang or Dengfeng on a long day by car.
Henan has a large Hui Muslim community, and Gongyi and Zhengzhou have many restaurants under the halal sign serving lamb and hand-pulled noodles.