Hongcun - Restaurant Reviews

Most visitors to the village of Hongcun come for its ancient culture and amazing photogenic quality, yet very few are aware of its excellent food offerings and deeply-rooted culinary heritage. To be fully honest I didn't know either, until I watched CCTV's documentary A Bite of China a few months before our departure.



Prior to this trip I had never tried Anhui Cuisine, or even seen any Anhui restaurants through my travels in the rest of China and Hong Kong. While it is considered one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese Cuisines, Anhui Cuisine remains relatively unknown even within China compared to national heavyweights such as Cantonese and Sichuan. I've heard about wild and exotic names such as Hairy Tofu, Salt-Pickled Mustard Greens or Stinky Mandarin Fish ... but how palatable these dishes are, I had absolutely no idea. It was time for another one of our culinary field trips.



Reviewed below are 6 eateries of various levels of sophistication, from street-side vendors to formal restaurants, all within the environs of Hongcun village and its county town Yixian. I wanted to cover different genres of Anhui cuisine and, in the course of 3 leisurely days, ended up with some of my favorite memories of local flavors.



Food Review: PEIDETANG XIAOCHIBU (Hongcun)
Address: Moon Pond, Hongcun
Hours: 07:00 – 15:00 (unconfirmed; based on observation)
Website/Map: N/A
Directions: There is a little square on the eastern side of the semi-circular Moon Pond at the centre of the village. Peidetang is the old mansion on the north side of that square, right behind the souvenir hawkers and possibly a few racks of hang-drying clothes.

Operating informally out of a dilapidated Qing Dynasty mansion, this street-side eatery turned out to be our favorite breakfast joint in the village. How informal are we talking about? First, there was no seating aside from a couple of weathered wooden tables out in the square. Second, there was no server or menu -- you walk into the kitchen and point at the food.



We smelled this place long before we found its elusive entrance -- the seductive, smokey aroma of their house specialty practically filled the air as far as the opposite side of the Moon Pond. Being continuously smoked on a bed of pickled mustard greens since early morning were a whole bamboo-mat-full of duck legs, placed outside the kitchen where the morning breeze carried it far across the village. Yes, it smelled that good.



Walking deeper into the kitchen I found the unique local ingredient that I've only previously seen on TV -- the famous Hairy Tofu (Maodoufu). A disappearing remnant of the ancient fermentation practice where mild-tasting tofu is thoroughly transformed into strong, pungent flavors, this is actually not so different from the concept of cheese production in Europe. The thick, dense white wool on the top is actually a layer of living mold growing out of the tofu, and the miniscule black specks are its spores. Don't worry -- it dies when you pan fry the tofu.



For comparison we ordered two different types of fermented tofu -- the commonly-found Stinky Tofu (Choudoufu) in the background, and the local favorite Hairy Tofu (Maodoufu) in the front. Keep in mind that we did this at 08:00, analogous to having Danish Blue Cheese for breakfast the first thing in the morning. It was going to be a serious wake-up call for our tastebuds.

The local version of Stinky Tofu did not disappoint -- it gave out some of the deepest, most concentrated flavors I've had in any fermented Tofu anywhere in China. Both of us found it too strong by itself, but the wallop of sweet sauce and chili sauce complimented the flavors pretty well. In comparison the Hairy Tofu was much more easily palatable: smooth in texture, curiously flavorful but still within the norm of what I'd eat for breakfast, and was quite good as a street snack.



Even better was the Pickle-Smoked Duck Leg -- and this was according to my wife, a huge fan of Duck Confit. We tried multiple vendors over our 3-Day stay, and this place was the best by far.

The flesh was so tender and the flavor so deep and complex that she asked the owner whether this went through an air-curing process. The answer was no -- it was simply marinated fresh with soy sauce and other flavorings, placed on top of a bed of reconstituted salt-pickled mustard greens, and smoked over a smoldering fire for hours until the aroma of the pickles was fully absorbed into the duck meat. The result was a flavor as complex as a good Confit, but with a processing time of hours instead of weeks, and thus superior retention of moisture in the meat.



To wrap up (pun unintended) the breakfast we also had the local version of Zongzi (Sticky Rice Wrap) with a filling of minced pork. This was certainly one of our most memorable breakfasts, sitting in Hongcun's village square alongside the locals, watching the mirror-like reflections on the Moon Pond and having some of the most representative local delicacies. RMB 21 (CAD$3.3) was a relatively cheap price to pay.

Bill for Two Persons

Pickle-Smoked Duck Leg	RMB 8
Hairy Tofu	RMB 5
Stinky Tofu	RMB 5
Sticky Rice Wrap	RMB 3
TOTAL	RMB 21 (CAD$3.3)

Food Review: HAOZAILAI SHAOBING (Hongcun)
Address: Xiashuizhen, Hongcun
Hours: 08:00 – 16:00 (unconfirmed; based on observation)
Website/Map: N/A
Directions: Start from the antique-looking Painting Bridge on the South Lake. Walk straight into the village for half a block. Haozailai is the little take-out eatery on the right hand side, usually with a vat of smoked duck legs or roasted pastry at the front door.


Sorry about forgetting to take a picture of the storefront, but this is an eatery I HIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone visiting Hongcun. Their Shaobing (Baked Pastry) with fillings of Salt-Pickled Mustard Greens are the best Shaobing I've had anywhere.

Pictured are two different versions of pastry baked over an open fire, both called Shaobing locally. The larger version was thunderously crispy to the bite, while the smaller disintegrated crumbly in the mouth. The pickled Mustard Greens (Meigancai) was at once sweet, savory, and mildly spicy in a mouth-watering way, and our only regret was missing the opportunity to order another batch on our last morning.

Bill for Two Persons

Large Shaobing x 2	(3 for RMB10)
Small Shaobing x 3	(5 for RMB 5)
TOTAL	RMB 10 (CAD$1.6)

Food Review: HONGCUN XIANGCUN YILOU (Hongcun)
Address: Jicunjie Zhongjie, Hongcun
Hours: 12:00 – 21:00 (unconfirmed; based on observation)
Website/Map: N/A
Directions: Exit Hongcun village from the West Entrance (crossing the concrete bridge)

I had the BEST EGGS of my life, here in Hongcun. I'm still salivating as I think about them.

Yes, plain and humble eggs. From an egg-laying chicken. If you're wondering how good scrambled eggs can possibly taste, my answer is ... IMPOSSIBLY GOOD.

I first heard about this restaurant from domestic Chinese travelers who showed me, much like my previous experience in Pingyao, that the best restaurants are typically found outside of the tourist zone. Located just west of the village on the commercial strip, Xiangcun Yilou turned out to be the best of four proper restaurants that we tried in Hongcun and Yixian. Prices were generally cheaper than restaurants within the village, and most importantly, its simple farmhouse-inspired dishes were some of the best food of our 17-day trip.



So how good can eggs possibly taste? Forget all memories of any eggs you've ever had, and imagine a flavor so strong and fragrant that, even after you swallow, leaves an aromatic aftertaste in the mouth for an hour. It was the most intense and concentrated flavor of eggs I've ever tasted. These Stir-Fried Eggs with Siberian Ginseng Leaves (Wujiapi Chao Tujidan) were probably scrambled in seductive but artery-clogging lard in this part of rural China, but I could hardly care. There's simply no comparison to these fully organic, free-range eggs that could only be found in remote villages. You can't even buy these with money in cities like Shanghai or Hong Kong.



My wife loved this next dish of Braised Free-Range Cornish Hen with Chestnuts (Tuzaiji Shaobanli). Throughout our travels we've noticed one general trend: the chicken of rural China are far superior in taste compared to the chicken in Chinese cities, which are in turn far superior to the typical chicken that I can buy in North America. And when we see Cornish hen on the menu, we never pass up the rare chance to taste that irreplicable sweetness and firmer, chewier texture. Braised with a little soy sauce, a hint of chili, aged vinegar and sugary chestnuts, this was an excellent dish for any chicken-lover who isn't shy of bones. And why would you be, if you're a true chicken-lover?



For veggies we ordered a plate of Stir-fried Pea Tips with Dry Tofu (Xianggan Chaodoumiao). I thought the local version of "Dry Tofu" would be similar to the extra-firm kind typically found in China's supermarkets in Original or Five-Spices flavor, except I forgot that we're in the territory of Anhui Cuisine. And true to Anhui's reputation for strongly flavored dishes, we ended up with the "Stinky" version of Dry Tofu. It actually wasn't bad -- at least it was much milder than the Stinky Tofu we ordered for breakfast. The tender pea tips worked very well to cleanse the palate.

The next day I wanted to revisit this restaurant just for the eggs alone, but sadly went off to try a new place at the end. While it's typical for me after a trip to crave for elusive delicacies such as king crabs, foie gras or Wagyu beef, I don't think I've ever craved so badly for something as simple as eggs. I don't know when I'll taste eggs of the same caliber again, and until that day, I'll still be reliving that moment in Hongcun when my chopsticks placed that first little morsel of scrambled eggs on my tongue.

Bill for Two Persons

Scrambled Free-Range Eggs with Siberian Ginseng Leaves	RMB 25
Braised Free-Range Cornish Hen with Chestnuts	RMB 68
Stir-Fried Pea Tips with Dry Tofu	RMB 25
Rice x 2	RMB 3
Plate Set x 2	RMB 2
TOTAL	RMB 123 (CAD$19.5)

Food Review: MINGQING HUIZHOU (Yixian Town)
Address: Next to Xiangyang Bridge, Yixian Town, Yixian
Hours: 11:00 – 21:00 (unconfirmed; based on observation)
Website/Map: From Yixian's Government Site
Directions: Start from the Yixian Bus Station. Hire a 3-wheeled motorcycle taxi and ask for Mingqing Jiulou (Mingqing restaurant) or the Xiangyang Qiao bridge. The restaurant is right beside the bridge.

We picked this restaurant specifically for one dish -- arguably one of the most famous dishes in Anhui Cuisine.

In fact this dish is so famously exotic that we decided to give it proper respect, to specifically travel (okay ... 30 minutes of travel) to the reputed best restaurant within Yixian county for that authentic traditional flavor that I'll likely never taste again in my lifetime.



This is another dish I've only previously seen on Chinese documentaries, and is said to encompass the true essence of Anhui Cuisine -- the intense, unmistakable flavors inherited from centuries of old-world fermentation techniques. The light fermentation of fresh fish is nothing new to the people of East Asia, originally invented for food preservation in landlocked areas, and evolving into flavor-enhancements over time. As the Japanese have Kyoto-style Saba-zushi, for the people of Anhui this distinction belongs to the ominously named Stinky Mandarin Fish.



Alright it's not that bad -- for starters it does NOT stink when being served on the dinner table. The "stink" refers to the fermenting state when the fish is lightly brined for a week under room temperature, which works to partially cure the flesh into a firmer texture with a condensed flavor ... or at least that's how the theory goes. It was time to take the plunge in the name of science!



Upon my first poke with chopsticks the difference was immediately obvious -- the normally tender meat of the fresh Mandarin Fish has been transformed into firm chunks, to the point where a whole fillet could slide off the backbone with a little nudge. There was absolutely no hint of any stinkiness at all, only a deep, briny taste consistent with any salted fish. This combination of firmness and saltiness strangely reminded me of large saltwater fish like giant grouper or rock cod, except that this fish was only about 0.7 kg, and we're 400 km from the nearest coast.

That's the culinary wisdom of the ancient land of Anhui, a resourceful people making the most out of their landlocked location away from China's large rivers and coastlines. This was the moment of epiphany when I started to have a concrete idea of what Anhui Cuisine represented.


After the climax of the Stinky Fish the next dish almost became an afterthought. That's a little unfair in retrospect as this Stir-Fried Cured Meat with Shiitake Mushrooms and Bamboo Shoots (Larou Chaoshuangdong) was actually a very good dish. The Shiitake used were premium, wild mushrooms with its signature woody fragrance, the winter bamboo shoots were young and crisp, and the cured ham was flavorful without being overly salty.

I wasn't sure that this was the best restaurant in Yixian County as rumored on Baidu's Tieba, but the food was excellent and prices were reasonable. With Yixian being the midpoint en route to visit the village of Xidi, this is a pretty good option for a lunch stop.

Bill for Two Persons

Stinky Mandarin Fish	RMB 78
Stir-Fried Cured Meat with Shiitake Mushrooms and Bamboo Shoots	RMB 48
Rice	RMB 2
TOTAL	RMB 128 (CAD$20.3)

Food Review: XIANGBALAO (Hongcun)
Address: Hongcun Jie, Wuyuan
Hours: 11:00 – 20:00 (unconfirmed; based on observation)
Website/Map: N/A
Directions: It's at the crossroad of Hongcun Jie (the east-west path leading from the West entrance) and the north-south street leading from the main square. The door faces the north-south street.


If you're looking for a quick lunch stop in the midst of sightseeing inside Hongcun, this is one of the more reasonably priced sit-down eateries ... so long as you stick with the cheaper noodles and rice instead of the entree dishes.

Cheaper items included Noodles with Chicken and Pickled Cabbage (Xuecai Jirou Mian) for RMB 10, House Fried Rice (Yipin Chaofan) for RMB 15, and a top-of-the-line Noodles with Rock Ear Lichen, Wild Bamboo Shoots and Pork (Shier Yesun Rousi Mian) for RMB 20. Specialty entrees ranged from the RMB 12 Homestyle Tofu to the RMB 80 Simmered Free-Range Chicken, but that's a little too much for us as far as lunches go.



I guess I could afford to splurge RMB 20 (CAD$3.2) on a bowl of top-of-the-line noodles. The owner didn't rip me off after all -- the noodles did come in a big filling bowl with just about as much meat and veggie toppings as noodles. The real justification for the price however was the exotic Rock Ear (ie. Iwatake in Japanese cooking), a locally harvested lichen species with detoxification qualities in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The baby bamboo shoots were very tender, and the soup quite rich and enjoyable on this cool November day.



My wife's Noodles with Simmered Duck Meat (Laoyabao Tangmian) came with considerably less toppings, though that's expected for a RMB 10 bowl of noodles. We also helped ourselves to one of the duck legs being smoked on a vat of pickled mustard greens, but it was nothing compared to the duck leg at Peidetang earlier that morning. Oh well ... it's a noodle house and I should have stuck with noodles.

Bill for Two Persons

Noodles with Rock Ear Lichen, Wild Bamboo Shoots and Pork	RMB 20
Noodles with Simmered Duck Meat	RMB 10
Pickle-Smoked Duck Leg	RMB 7
TOTAL	RMB 37 (CAD$5.9)

Food Review: HONGDA TINGYUAN (Hongcun)
Address: Shangshuizhen 5, Hongcun
Hours: 12:00 – 20:00 (unconfirmed; based on observation)
Website/Map: Official Site
Directions: Enter the village and find the old mansion of Shurentang. Hongda Tingyuan is just around the corner, in the northwestern-most section of the village next to other antique guesthouses such as Songhetang and Biyuan.

This is a restaurant I DO NOT RECOMMEND -- this is documented as a fair comparison to my recommendations of Xiangcun Yilou and Mingqing Huizhou reviewed above.



The attraction of Hongda Tingyuan isn't the food, but the ambiance of dining in a picturesque classical courtyard in the view of a pondful of ornamental Koi fish. Its location inside the village (just a couple of minutes walk from Chengzhi Hall in fact) probably helps to reel in the casual tourist.

But in terms of food quality, I hate to say but this place is really subpar. The Red Braised Small River Fish (Hongshao Xiaoheyu) pictured came soggy, bony and reeked of a "muddy" taste. These fish were definitely not wild caught despite what the owner claimed.



The next dish was our own fault to be fair -- we couldn't resist ordering the curiously named Laba Tofu, or literally "December 8 Tofu," another weird local Anhui dish. This time our exploit turned up a dry-cured, thick-skinned and dehydrated tofu product with the consistency of hard salami. Even with diligent chomping throughout the meal we failed to finish this dish.


We had no choice but to admit defeat when once again our last dish arrived soggy and tasteless. To sum up our dining experience in Hongcun, the best deals were the two suggestions for informal street snacks at the top of this post. For proper sit-down restaurants, I wouldn't hesitate to return to Xiangcun Yilou and Mingqing Huizhou. The rest I don't really recommend.

Bill for Two Persons

Red Braised Small River Fish	RMB 58
Laba Tofu	RMB 28
Stir-Fried Wild Fiddlehead Ferns	RMB 28
Large Beer	RMB 12
Rice x 2	RMB 4
TOTAL	RMB 130 (CAD$20.6)

Hongcun - Hotel Review

Hotel Review: SONGHETANG (Hongcun)
Address: Shangshuizhen 7, Hongcun, Yixian, Anhui
Price: RMB 280
Website/Map: Offical Website (in Chinese)
Directions: If you've booked online, just call the front desk upon arrival and they'll send someone to pick you up at the Main Parking Lot (and give you a RMB 10 discount on the entrance ticket). If you haven't booked ahead and want to check out the place, enter the village and find the old mansion of Shurentang. Songhetang is just around the corner, in the northwestern-most section of the village.

The picture at the top isn't from a museum -- THAT is the hotel.

This was our base in Hongcun village for 3 nights, inside a Qing Dynasty mansion originally built for a wealthy scholar in the 8th Year of Emperor Tongzhi, or Year 1869 in the Western World. After a tumultuous 140 years of Chinese history, the building has remained standing and is now officially protected by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage Site.



If you have any preconception of a traditional Chinese manor house -- dark curving rooflines upon whitewashed walls, an open courtyard at the centre with a pond full of colorful Koi fish, and a solemn Greeting Hall with scrolls of ink calligraphy hanging down on all sides -- this is probably it. Any character from Crouching Tiger to Kung Fu Panda would fit right in.



Formerly the estate of the most powerful clan in Hongcun, Songhetang is situated strategically where the fresh stream of the Xi River enters the village's system of canals, securing the cleanest water supply before the rest of the villagers get their share. Nowadays this translates to the farthest walking distance (~10 minutes) from the village entrance. For travelers this means two things: 1) hotel guests are mostly the quieter, pre-booked type rather than random backpackers stumbling in, and 2) there's probably some room for bargaining in the off-season should you choose not to pre-book.



The guesthouse has an old section and a new section. There's the original Qing Dynasty wood-and-brick structure centered by an intimate courtyard built around a fish pond, a formal Greeting Hall with intricately carved door panels and overhead beams, as well as the original living quarters now fashioned into a small handful of guestrooms. But just before Hongcun's elevation to World Heritage Site status (and thus a ban on new constructions within village boundary), the owner sneaked by with the construction of a new section of modern but characterless rooms. To us it was a no-brainer -- why deprive ourselves of the pleasure of staying in a genuine World-Heritage-worthy building from Imperial China?



So we booked the oldest, quietest upper floor room, right above the Greeting Hall in the balcony section traditionally known as Xiulou, or Embroidery House. This was where the unmarried daughters of the master lived under virtual house-arrest, honing their needlework and playing their 7-string Guqin zither until they either got married off, or died of old age. While our room on the upper floor were nicely fitted with brand new Western-style washrooms, the bedrooms downstairs weren't quite as recommendable, unless you're okay with Asian-style squatting toilets.



Our room was equipped with all the modern amenities such as a comfy king-sized bed, a new bathroom renovated to Western standards, a Japanese air conditioner, a flat screen TV and wireless internet. Yet underneath the new wallpaper and laminate flooring one could still see the original architectural details, including sturdy pillars made of ancient cedars and a small square window opening to the exterior of the mansion.



The only antique furniture piece in our room though was a carved mahogany vanity table. If you want to sleep in the original antique beds, you'll have to book the ground floor rooms with the squat toilets. As Mencius wrote in his parable more than 2300 years ago, it's "Fish and Bear Paw," and you just can't have everything.



Ask the elderly owner Mr. Wang about the story of how his father amazingly bought this place for RMB 600 during the Cultural Revolution years. Now it's probably worth at least a few millions. While their occupancy rate likely isn't very high (we actually had the entire upper floor to ourselves for 3 days), their operation of the guesthouse and restaurant is probably one of the more profitable in town, judging from the full house of dining patrons they seem to draw almost every night.



To be fair the main selling point of their restaurant wasn't the food itself, but the classical ambiance of their interior courtyard with the charming Koi fish pond, ingeniously built by Qing Dynasty engineers to draw fresh water directly from the village's system of little canals flowing past everyone's front door. The inward-leaning balustrades overhanging the pond now serve as prime seating for the clientele.



If you stay in the guesthouse for a few days like we did, the owner's daughter will probably bug you to have dinner here, every time she sees you. We did give the place a try, which in retrospect I wouldn't recommend. The above pictured local dish of Stir-Fried Eggs with Siberian Ginseng Leaves (Wujiapi Chaodan) was quite a few notches below the same dish we ordered the previous night at the excellent Xiangcun Yilou.



Curious about the pieces of dry-cured ham hanging in their guesthouse kitchen, we gave the Steamed Bamboo Shoots with Cured Meat (Sunyi Zhenglarou) a try. The ham was a bit on the salty side, and the flavor wasn't as complex as the ham we had a couple days earlier in Wuyuan. The bamboo shoots at the bottom soaked up all the excess sodium from the ham drippings, to a point where I couldn't even finish it all. Bleh.



The saving grace of the meal though was a half-order of Simmered Free-Range Chicken Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms (Xianggu Duntujitang), a large pot of savory clear broth and firm, chewy meat. I think we finished our entire half of the chicken.

This was a very mediocre meal overall. During our 3 days here we discovered several much more recommendable eateries, which I'll share in the next article. As a restaurant Songhetang was nowhere close comparatively.

Dinner for Two Persons

Fried Eggs with Siberian Ginseng Leaves	RMB 28
Steamed Bamboo Shoots with Cured Meat	RMB 68
Simmered Free-Range Chicken Soup with Shiitake (Half-Order)	RMB 50
Large Beer	RMB 12
Plate Set and Rice x 2	RMB 4
TOTAL	RMB 162 (CAD$25.7)

So this is what we learned -- just ignore the substandard restaurant and enjoy Songhetang as a unique guesthouse experience and a living exhibit of Qing Dynasty folk architecture. Even at RMB 280 for one of their best equipped rooms, it's no more expensive than an average 2-star business hotel in central Shanghai or Beijing. For a UNESCO-protected heritage building in one of China's best preserved ancient villages, this is a relative bargain IMHO.

3 Days in the Photographer Heaven of Hongcun

Whenever I tell fellow travelers that I spent 3 days in Hongcun, the typical reaction is that it's "way too much time" for a small, albeit incredibly picturesque village. To put things in perspective, organized tours rush through in about two hours.



But I'm also the kind of traveler who holed up for 4 days within the ancient walls of Pingyao. I live in Canada, and if it takes so much planning and effort to arrive at my favorite destinations, I might as stay for as long as it takes to soak in everything. After all, these locales are so distant, and the transportation so inconvenient, that it's likely going to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip.



On my first morning here I purposely woke up at 05:30, rolled out of my warm bed reluctantly (this was in November when morning temperatures dropped to single digit Celcius) and walked to the other side of Hongcun's South Lake for some decent pictures to bring home. There I met another traveler from Taiwan who taught me his own definition of slow travel.



"I've come here several years in a row," said the middle-aged man as he worked on his camera tripod, "and this time I've stayed here for 10 days already." Whoa ... the guy was seriously IN LOVE with this place. I'm sure that if I worked in Asia, I wouldn't spend my free time at the same place over and over again, and for more than 10 days each time.



And it wasn't just one guy -- on this clear autumn morning the entire shore of the South Lake was dotted with photographers, some professional for sure, but mostly amateurs waking up early for a shot of the morning mist hovering over the lake.



What's so mesmerizing about this one little village, hidden remotely beneath the mountain ranges of Eastern China, that causes its admirers to return year after year? I arrived only after dark the previous evening, and meeting this veteran photographer here made me anxious to delve deeper and discover my own favorite photo spots over the next 3 days. After all, that's all the time I could afford.



So where is Hongcun exactly?

Hongcun is a tiny village that, prior to its inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, was relatively unknown to international tourists. Even now it's still not a household name, and its distance away from China's major cities doesn't help. The closest medium-sized city is Huangshan City, which is still a few years away from having its first high-speed rail station. And even then, Hongcun will still remain in the next prefecture being more than an hour away by bus. You really have to WANT to get here, in order to get here.



But on the other hand, Hongcun's unique location in the shadow of one of China's premier destinations brings in an enormous amount of day-tripping domestic tourists. The magnificent scenery of Huangshan, arguably the most famous and definitely the most visited among Chinese mountains, is a short 40 minute drive to the north.



This puts Hongcun in the unenviable situation as a perpetual afterthought -- it's rarely the end destination for domestic Chinese tourists, but a little diversion during their obligatory tour of the famous Huangshan. One may see this as extremely unfortunate for day-trippers fighting among the sea of people through the narrow alleys and claustrophobic old houses of Hongcun, but on the other hand it's also a blessing to anyone staying overnight in the village.



Anyone who have been here prior to 08:00 can attest -- it's a tale of two villages before and after the arrival of the hordes of multi-national tour groups. Virtually all of these photos were taken either before 08:00 or after 16:30, when the community returned to its unhurried, rustic self. Villagers around every corner could be seen with their face towels and plastic mugs, squatting next to the system of little canals in front of every house. Clothes would be washed and water would be fetched for the day's cooking.



Shortly after dawn alluring aromas start emanating from informal breakfast joints surrounding the two village squares, serving all sorts of deep-fried morsels and smoked poultry to neighborhood kids and early-rising tourists alike. Traditional Huizhou cuisine is all about distinct, time-honed flavors, and there's no better place to sit down along side the locals and have a few pieces of fermented Hairy Tofu.



Among the most popular photo locales is the area around the semi-circular Moon Pond, a Ming Dynasty reservoir that once served as the village waterhole, clothes washer, duck pond, and fire hydrant at the same time. This place is not only a photographer magnet, but also seems to be a mandatory stop for the wandering troupes of art students on annual field trips. Here on a sunny morning I sat-in on an art teacher's impromptu lecture on how to sketch the characteristic Huizhou-style roofline.



But my favorite view was the village's most distinguishable monument -- the picture-perfect Painting Bridge dividing the enchanting South Lake into two. The only problem is that this is also the main entrance into the village, and it's near impossible to get a good shot without random tourists posing their V-signs in the picture, unless you arrive before 06:30.



Also open to photographers are several impressive residences dating from the Qing Dynasty, with the Chengzhi Hall (pictured) being the grandest and best preserved. These places also present perceptive travelers with a depressing lesson in modern Chinese history -- see the fading Mao images and Red Guard slogans still imprinted on the wall panels, and understand how ingenious owners saved these priceless mansions from demolishment during the Cultural Revolution era.



We visited several Huizhou-style villages before and after Hongcun, including the magical Shicheng in Wuyuan and the famous Xidi which, along with Hongcun, is protected as a World Heritage Site. But in terms of overall photogenic quality, IMHO Hongcun far surpasses all others with one insurmountable advantage -- the ever-changing faces of the South Lake with its misty mornings, floating lotus blossoms, resident white geese, and of course reflections of the village on windless days.



But between the peak hours of 08:00 and 16:30, the overcrowding grew so unbearable that we spent most of our time away from village and went off to hike the countryside. Megaphones from tour guides everywhere seemed to babble tirelessly about how Feng Shui masters laid out the village plan in the shape of an ox, which really makes no difference to the visitor unless viewing from a helicopter.



Instead it is much more practical to understand how the canal system flows through the village from the northwestern part of the village into the Moon Pond, then through another section of canals into the South Lake. You'll see why this is so important to know, once you've seen the cleaning routine of the locals ...



Watch how villagers tend to wash everything from vegetables to portable toilet urns in the canals. This tells you that eateries upstream (before the Moon Pond) are generally safer than eateries downstream (near the South Lake). Or even better yet ... eat outside of the village!



ITINERARY AND TRANSPORTATION

We placed Hongcun between two other highly recommendable destinations on our itinerary: Wuyuan and Huangshan. With Wuyuan being 3 to 4 hours to the south and Huangshan mountain being 40 minutes to the north, this sets up a fascinating itinerary connecting two UNESCO World Heritage Sites along with one of China's hot new destinations.



Wuyuan is widely advertised as the "Most Beautiful Village in China" and is well-known for sceneries of idyllic farmlands and picturesque farmhouses, and for rapeseed flowers in the springtime and tea-seed oil season in the autumn (see article). Huangshan on the other hand needs no introduction -- dreamlike mountain landscapes has made it one of China's top destinations for decades, if not centuries. Combining the two with Hongcun would easily make a great trip of 5 days or more.



From Wuyuan there is a seasonal bus to local transportation hub of Yixian, a short 15 minute bus ride from Hongcun. The bus currently departs Wuyuan's Long Distance Bus Station around 14:00 BUT ONLY DURING TOURIST SEASON (approx. April to October)! The bus is supposed to arrive at Yixian's Long Distance Bus Station shortly after 16:00, where it's quick to hop on a local bus to Hongcun.



But if you arrive in the off-season like we did, there is no direct bus from Wuyuan as we found out the hard way. We had to first take the bus to Huangshan City (known locally as Tunxi), departing around 13:00 and arriving around 15:30 for RMB 45. Then we transferred to another bus (RMB 17.5) to Hongcun, taking another 90 minutes or so.



On the other hand the connection to Huangshan mountain was very quick and easy. Several buses leave for Huangshan mountain from Hongcun's main parking lot, currently departing at 06:50, 09:50 and 13:30 for a cheap RMB 13. If you happen to miss the bus, a taxi would cost around RMB 150 (CAD$24).



ACCOMMODATION

This is getting long, so I'll write a separate Hotel Review article.

Hongcun is one of those rare places where the curious traveler can experience a stay in one of those Qing Dynasty scholar's mansions, formerly resided by government officials and wealthy traders and many now function as folk museums. A number of these remain in private hands and are operated as guesthouses near the northwest corner of the village.



As of late 2012, double rooms with private washrooms generally ranged from RMB 120 (CAD$19) for a nondescript room with two small beds, to upwards of RMB 300 (CAD$48) for a deluxe suite with antique furniture pieces. Even in the higher range this is no more expensive than an average 2-star business hotel in central Shanghai or Beijing.



The occupancy rate of the guesthouses seemed quite low for a nationally famous locale -- for three nights we stayed at one of the best-preserved guesthouses dating from the Qing Dynasty, and there were never any guests in the only other room beside ours. This tells us that, unless you're visiting during peak tourist seasons (eg. Golden Week), walking-in should be possible as long as you're not picky about your room.



FOOD

Oh the food! Of course there will be a separate article just on Restaurant Reviews. I'm already looking forward to sorting the pictures!



DAY-TRIPS NEARBY

Staying for 3 days afforded us the opportunity to spend more time exploring the immediate area, which is filled with interesting sights.

Our favorite side-trip from Hongcun wasn't the popular Xidi or Mukeng, but a largely unknown and impressively scenic hike from the village of Tachuan, through Xieli, gracing the edge of Qishu Lake, and back to Hongcun. It's a 3.5 hour, 10 km trail that my wife remembers as one of her favorite memories on our entire tour of Eastern China. I'll have to write a separate article for this.



The nearby village of Xidi, also protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with Hongcun, is obviously worthwhile as a side-trip. The historical section of Xidi is actually larger than Hongcun's, though one could argue that it's not quite as surrounded by water and thus is less photogenic. Nevertheless the scholar houses are just as well-preserved, and transportation is simple with the hourly departures of direct buses linking the two villages throughout much of the day. We boarded our bus at 10:00 and arrived at Xidi within 30 minutes.

Another popular day-trip is the Mukeng Bamboo Sea, a gigantic bamboo grove on the side of a mountain with a tiny hamlet at its centre. We skipped this place as we've visited bamboo groves elsewhere and this time preferred the wide-open views of the Tachuan hike.



And if you still can't get enough of those quaint Huizhou-style villages and scholar houses, nearby villages such as Lucun, Nanping and Guanlu offer even more traditional architecture to fill your photo albums. Lucun is almost within walking distance from the northwestern part of the village and is easily accessible by those 3-wheeled motorcycle taxis hawking just outside Hongcun's western entrance. Nanping and Guanlu are served by an hourly bus departing the Long Distance Bus Station in Yixian (right next to the bus for Hongcun!), so it's easy to take the bus from Hongcun to Yixian and then transfer to the bus to Nanping.