Dingcun () is an old village located in Xincheng (),

Xiangfen County Xiangfen County () is a county in the southwest of Shanxi Province, China. It was established in February 1954 from the merger of the former Xiangling County () and Fencheng County (). The county falls under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level ...

, approximately 28 kilometers south of

Linfen Linfen is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shanxi province, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the west. It is situated along the banks of the Fen River. It has an area of and according to the 2020 Census, a population of 3,976,4 ...

, in southern

Shanxi Province Shanxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Site description

Historical residential courtyards in Dingcun consist of a number of "foursquare" courtyards with buildings on the four directions including the main halls, the wing rooms along the east and west sides, the corridors and the entrance gateways. It has totally 40 complete sets of "four-square" courtyards 598.5 jian (Jian: the smallest unit of a building, approximately 15 square meters each) rooms and covers an area of 48000 square meters.

History

The earliest courtyards were built in the 21st year in the reign of the
Wanli Emperor The Wanli Emperor (; 4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), personal name Zhu Yijun (), was the 14th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1572 to 1620. "Wanli", the era name of his reign, literally means "ten thousand calendars". He was the ...
(1593) of the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
and the latest ones were of early republican period. Generally speaking, the total structure can be divided into three sections, the north courtyards, the middle courtyards and the south courtyards. These three sections respectively consisted of buildings of the Ming dynasty, the early and middle periods of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
and that of the later period of the Qing dynasty. These are one of the representative pieces of folk architecture of the Ming and Qing dynasties in North China. Since these buildings were built in different times, their layout and style are different.

World Heritage status

This site was added to the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Tentative List on February 12, 1996 in the Cultural category.Historical Residential Courtyards in Dingcun - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
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Notes

References

Historical Residential Courtyards in Dingcun - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Accessed 2009-02-23. {{authority control Villages in China Linfen