Hongjiang Ancient Mall, a national 4A-level scenic spot, is located in Hongjiang District, Huaihua City, Hunan Province. It was built along the Yuan and Wu rivers. It was formed in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. There are still more than 2,000 ancient buildings remaining, covering an area of ??more than 100,000 square meters.
The atmosphere of an ancient trading center is vaguely visible.
The architectural style of the ancient city is a typical French style of Jiangnan construction in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and also has significant Yuanxiang characteristics.
Hongjiang has been a great post station and commercial port in Southwest China since ancient times.
In Hongjiang Ancient Mall, there are Fireworks Willow Alley, Hefeng Courtyard, Fuxingchang Opium House, Shengfeng Bank, Long Wharf, Tianjun Theater, Pan Cunde Hall, Shaoxing Class, Flood Control Bureau, Lijin Bureau, Zhongyi Escort Bureau, Fuquan Hall,
Chamber of Commerce, Cai Fu Commercial Bank, Tongfa Zhuang, Jin Taixiang Bank, etc.
The ancient shopping mall of Hongjiang originated from Cao Shi in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. It was built along the Yuan and Wu rivers and benefited from the development of modern commercial civilization due to its developed water transportation. It is the earliest, largest and most complete inland area.
It is a commercial center, a cargo handling hub and a financial transfer center in the southwest of the city.
Hongjiang Ancient Mall has rich architectural cultural connotations. It now fully preserves more than 380 ancient buildings such as temples, merchant houses, guild halls, banks, inns, workshops, and escort agencies from the Ming, Qing, and Republic of China periods, covering an area of ??more than 200,000 square meters.
Hongjiang Ancient Mall is unique in the country due to its large scale, majestic momentum, marvelous architecture, and good preservation. It is known as "the living fossil of the budding period of Chinese capitalism", "China's first ancient mall", and "China's ancient commercial capital".
As early as the ancient Chu-Wu war, this was a famous tung oil producing area in Chu State.
Hongjiang tung oil is also known as Hongyou.
Timber from Guizhou and western Hunan was also collected and distributed from the Hongjiang River and became the first-class pillar material for the imperial palace and nobles.
According to county records from the Qing Dynasty, about half of the city's 37,000 people were engaged in business at that time.
The most eye-catching thing about Hongjiang Ancient Mall is the ancient cellar house, which is built with green bricks and coated with lime mortar. It covers an area of ??more than 100 square meters.
It is shaped like a courtyard house. Inside the high fire-sealing wall, the roof slopes down from the four sides to the center in proportion to form a small square patio. The top is not covered with tiles, or is covered with overhead tiles and covered with glass to facilitate lighting and ventilation.
The Hongjiang cellar house has obvious commercial characteristics in its architectural layout.
The most iconic thing about Hongjiang Ancient Mall is the door wall, which is not an ordinary rectangular plane with right-angle doors, but a geometric equilateral double bevel door.
Many of its doors and windows have carved and painted beams, and its lintels, pillars, screen walls, and furniture are all decorated with animal patterns of dragons, phoenixes, and cloud patterns, which are vivid and antique.
Rectangular or hexagonal pools made of bluestone can be seen everywhere in ancient houses. People in the ancient city called them "Taiping jars" to store water and prevent fire.
Blue stone slabs are on the wall of the ancient cellar house at No. 1 Tangchong, Lane.
There is also a dedication message from Zheng Banqiao, a famous calligrapher from Yangzhou in the Qing Dynasty.
Recommended gourmet specialties: Zhijiang duck, rock sugar orange, yellow beef, ginger, lotus root sugar, Hongjiang blood rake duck, Xiangxi vegetable tofu, etc.