On the second day in Shanxi, we went to the prestigious Qiao Family Courtyard.

The Qiao Family Courtyard, which is famous all over the world for the drama "Qiao Family Courtyard", does live up to its reputation.

The Qiao Family Courtyard is located in Qiaojiabao Village, Qi County, Shanxi Province, 54 kilometers away from Taiyuan. It is also known as "Zai Zhongtang". It is the residence of Qiao Zhiyong, a nationally famous commercial and financial capitalist in the Qing Dynasty.

Zheng Xiaoxie, a famous architectural expert, said, "Beijing has the Forbidden City, Xi'an has the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, and Qixian County has thousands of residential houses." The residential houses in Qixian County, a famous historical and cultural city in China, are a collection of French styles from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and are a culmination of those from the south of the Yangtze River and Hebei.

The most famous one is the Qiao Family Courtyard.

The Qiao Family Courtyard was first built during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Afterwards, it was renovated twice and expanded once. After several generations of continuous efforts, a magnificent architectural complex was built in the early years of the Republic of China, embodying the style of northern folk residences in the Qing Dynasty.

Unique Style.

The compound is a fully enclosed castle-like building complex, facing the street on three sides, and is not connected to the surrounding residential buildings. It is majestic and majestic.

The layout of the courtyard is exquisite and rigorous, with the shape of the Chinese character "Xi Xi" when viewed from above. The construction technology is exquisite, the bricks and tiles are finely ground, the brackets and cornices are painted, and the masonry and wood carvings are exquisite, which fully demonstrates the superb level of construction technology at that time. It was praised by experts and scholars as: "

"A bright pearl in the history of northern residential architecture", known as "the Imperial Palace has the Forbidden City, and the private residences have the Qiao Family". It is famous in the Three Jin Dynasties and well-known at home and abroad.

There are three treasures in the Qiao family's courtyard: The Ten Thousand People Ball is a mercury glass ball hanging from the ceiling. It is said that the Qiao family purchased it from the United States.

The image of the person in the house can be reduced to a certain proportion on the ball.

At that time, the Qiao family hung it on the house to monitor the people in the house when they were meeting guests to discuss business. It was called the world's first surveillance probe and was rare at the time.

Rhinoceros Moonglass is a mirror with a diameter of about one meter. The frame is made of ironwood, the hardest and rarest tree in wood.

There is a carving of a rhinoceros with auspicious clouds. The auspicious clouds are lingering under the round mirror like colorful clouds and the moon. The rhinoceros below the auspicious clouds looks back, as if looking at the bright moon.

According to the legend of Kowloon Lantern, Empress Dowager Cixi passed by the Qiao family when she fled to Xi'an when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China. The Qiao family generously donated 300,000 taels of silver to meet their urgent needs.

Empress Dowager Xi felt his loyalty and rewarded him with two Kowloon lanterns.

I heard from the tour guide that the third one has not yet been found in the country.

It was lightly raining at that time.

Standing in the courtyard and listening quietly, many old and prosperous dreams seem to travel through a hundred years of time and space, attached to the high hanging red lanterns, silently telling.

The Qiao family, a wealthy family, was brilliant and prosperous for a time, with customers coming in like clouds, flowers blooming, business well-established, and a great reputation.

Where is the master now?

Where are the descendants?

Perhaps inheritance is the most important thing.

In a restaurant next to the compound, we tasted Shanxi delicacies: fried yellow millet, Fen wine, dumplings, etc.

A feast for taste buds, vision and spirit, so satisfying!