Ancient buildings resurface in Hechi

A recent government visit to the remote Dazhou village on the outskirts of the city of Hechi has revealed more than 80 ancient buildings dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Officials from the Yizhou committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference were visiting the village to learn about folk culture when the discovery was made.

It is estimated that some of the dilapidated wooden buildings, featuring painted sculptures, had been built on the mountain slope at about the time of the late Ming Dynasty and most built during the Qing Dynasty (1368-1911).

Standing as high as five meters tall and with 2.5-meter-tall wooden doorways, the buildings retained their ancient archways and elegantly carved stone thresholds.

Qin Wenjian, a group leader from the Dazhou, said that a total of 600 people live in the village, with most of the population descending from Qin and Zhuang ethnic groups. He said the exact date of the building remains a mystery.

"Since the reform and opening up, we have moved to other places due to poor transportation in the mountains," Qin said. "We left those houses desolate with a few being used to farm silkworms."

"We all have no idea about it, neither did my great grandfather," said Qin Wenying, an 87-year-old villager, when asked what year those ancient buildings date back to.

Apart from the abandoned wooden houses, there were several stone shelters and ruins of gun turrets further down the mountain.

The ancient houses in Dazhou village, Hechi, feature beautiful decorated stone thresholds. [Photo by Wei Yingning/Hechi Daily]

More than 80 ancient buildings are found in Dazhou villiage, Hechi, and are estimated to date back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. [Photo by Wei Yingning/Hechi Daily]