The House of the Huangcheng Chancellor, also known by its Chinese name, Huangcheng Xiangfu, is a 10-hectare (25-acre) walled estate on Phoenix Hill (Fenghuangshan) comprising Huangcheng, a village occupying a hollow above the Changhe Valley between Yangcheng and Jincheng in southeastern Shanxi, China. It is composed of numerous siheyuan-style courtyards built into the side of a hill, overlooked by defensive towers and enclosed by high crenellated walls that divide it into two sections. The fortifications were built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
It has been called the "greatest cultural residence in North China". China's National Tourism Administration gave it a AAAAA rating in 2011.
The Chen family in Shanxi began erecting buildings on Phoenix Hill overlooking the Fanxi River[1] around the 1440s under China's Ming dynasty.[2] The family began as farmers, built a fortune through coal mining, and then began emphasizing the education of their children.[3] During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the family produced 66 mandarins,[3] 33 poets, and 9 first-place winners of Shanxi's provincial examinations.[4]
The property was encastellated for Chen Changyan in 1633.[4] The fortifications served to protect the household and its attendant villagers from unrest during the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor.[5] This "inner city" (内城, Nèichéng)[6] runs along a north–south axis along the side of the hill, facing downhill toward the west.[7]
The compound was expanded in 1703 for Chen Tingjing, tutor to the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing and the chief editor of the Kangxi Dictionary.[4] His "outer city" (外城, Wàichéng) lies on flat ground against the entrance to the upper section of the estate, facing south toward the warehouses and shops lining the Street of Ancient Culture.[7] Supposedly, the grand nature of the finished complex drew charges of disloyalty and imperial pretensions from Chen's political opponents, but he claimed to have established it to please his mother, who wished to see Beijing, but was too frail to complete the journey.[7][8] In any case, the Kangxi Emperor visited the location twice, praising it and its owner, who never fell from his favor.
The site was damaged during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s.[9] It received a 30m RMB restoration starting in 1998,[9] and the China National Tourism Administration named the House of the Huangcheng Chancellor a AAAAA tourist attraction in 2011.[10] By 2012, it was attracting millions of visitors each year.[11]
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