Mingyuewan ancient village

Mingyuewan ancient village is located at the southern end of Xishan island in Taihu Lake. It is now Shigong administrative village, Xishan Town, Wuzhong District (Taihu Lake National Tourist Resort), Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and damingwan natural village, two kilometers west of Shigong mountain, a famous scenic spot. South of Taihu Lake, back against the Castle Peak, terrain like a hook moon, so called Moon Bay, referred to as the bay. It is said that in the spring and Autumn period, Fu Chai, king of Wu, and Xi Shi, a beautiful woman, enjoyed the moon here.

Mingyuewan ancient village

Mingyuewan ancient village is located at the south end of Xishan island in Taihu Lake. It belongs to Shigong administrative village, Jinting Town, Wuzhong District (Taihu Lake National Tourist Resort), Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. It is located two kilometers west of Shigong mountain, a famous scenic spot. It is said that mingyuewan had formed a village in the spring and Autumn period. Most of the residents were slaves of the state of Yue, and only a few of them were Wu people. Besides relying on production to support themselves and their families, they also provided food and services for the king of Wu and Xi Shi to come here for recreation. On the Shipai mountain behind the village, the site of Thrushcross spring where Xi Shi washed her make-up at that time is preserved. With the increase of population, the villages also expanded correspondingly. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, mingyuewan basically formed a checkerboard like village pattern.

A brief history of ancient villages

During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, Mingyue Bay reached its peak, with a large number of exquisite houses, ancestral halls, Shiban street, river ports, docks and other public buildings built. This kind of perfect village pattern has been continued all the time, and has been paid much attention by the world for its unique and complete ancient village style. Mingyuewan was the 35th capital of Wu county (Dongting township) in the Qing Dynasty. During the period of the Republic of China, Wuxiang Township, Huili Township, Xiaoxia Township and Daxia town were successively assigned to Xishan District.

At the beginning of liberation, Minghui Township and Shigong township (small township) were successively assigned to Xishan District. After communization, they were assigned to mingwan Brigade (Village) of Shigong commune (township). In 1987, three townships of Xishan were merged to build a town. Mingyuewan belonged to mingwan administrative village of Xishan town. In 2003, the village was merged to Shigong administrative village. The existing ancient village in Mingyue Bay covers an area of about 9 hectares. There are nearly 100 Qing Dynasty buildings and more than 400 permanent residents. Most of them are farmers who live by planting flowers and fruits, Biluochun and fishing and breeding in Taihu Lake. Most of them have the surnames of Jin, Deng, Qin, Huang and Wu. They are descendants of the retired aristocrats in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Most of the existing houses in mingyuewan were built in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. The residents became rich by going out for business and planting flowers and fruits. They built high-end houses such as Lihe hall, Ligeng hall, zhanrui hall, Zhanlu hall, hansanfang, xuejiating, jinjiating, dengjiaci hall, wujiaci hall, huangjiaci hall, qinjiaci hall, etc. There are exquisite and elegant brick, wood and stone carvings in these houses and ancestral halls, and some have gorgeous Soviet style paintings. On the whole, the existing ancient buildings in Mingyue Bay are inferior to those in Xishan East Village, Tangli and Wanli in terms of volume, size and decoration fineness. However, the number of existing ancient buildings in Mingyue Bay is more and the distribution is more concentrated, and the stone slab street with a length of more than 1000 meters can better reflect the original style of Jiangnan ancient village. There is an ancient camphor along the river at the mouth of mingyuewan village. It is 25 meters high and 2 meters in diameter at breast height. It has lived for thousands of years and is still very prosperous. Mingyue bridge on the river is also a granite building in the Qing Dynasty. It is straight and light, and is still the main channel across the river.

Poetic mingwan

Mingyue Bay has a long history and beautiful scenery. It has been the yearning place of literati since ancient times. Bai Juyi, PI Rixiu, Lu guimeng, Shi Jiaoran, Liu Changqing, Jia Dao, Huang Tingjian, Wu Cun, Gao Qi, Wang Shizhen, Wang Shimao, Shen Deqian and other famous scholars all left poems praising mingyuewan.

Mingyuewan, with a poetic name, is a picturesque village. Can be traced back to the distant past: she originated from the legend of the peerless beauty Xizi.

Dressed in a mysterious veil, she looks like a hermit, hiding in the depths of lakes and mountains for thousands of years.

Gently lift the dust, slowly lift the veil, and recommend it to friends who are destined to come here to meet her

She has neither the prosperous streets and alleys in the ancient market town nor the pavilions and pavilions of the literati in the city;

She was born and bred, quiet and simple. She is still an ancient village in Jiangnan;

She can tell a thousand years of adventure, but also ordinary people to tell their own story!

Origin of village name

South of Taihu Lake, back against the Castle Peak, terrain like a hook moon, so called Moon Bay, referred to as the bay. It is said that in the spring and Autumn period more than 2500 years ago, Fu Chai, the king of Wu, and Xi Shi, a beautiful woman, once enjoyed the bright moon here, hence the name of the ancient village. "The Moon Bay is where the king of Wu plays the moon." (Suzhou Fu Zhi)

The west mountain of Dongting is located in the middle of Taihu Lake. In the spring and Autumn period, Wu and Yue fought against each other. The west mountain was the front position of Wu state, leaving many legends and relics about the king of Wu. It left a great space for the king of Wu and Xi Shi to enjoy the moon in Mingyue Bay.

Did King Wu and Xi Shi really come here to enjoy the moon? Why are you here to enjoy the moon? This has been a mystery for ages.

Gao Qi, a poet of Ming Dynasty, interprets it as follows:

"The moon is everywhere, here is the moon!"

Is that true? Let's invite tourists to come to Mingyue Bay in the west mountain of Taihu Lake to find the answer in person! Fortunately:

Xi Shi is not in, the moon is in, the smoke wave thousand li altogether Chan Juan!

ecotourism

"Ecotourism" not only refers to enjoying the beautiful scenery in the process of tourism, but also emphasizes a way of behavior and thinking, that is, protective tourism. It is a kind of gradualism behavior not to destroy the ecology, to understand the ecology, to protect the ecology and to achieve permanent harmony. Ecotourism is a kind of green tourism, which aims at protecting the natural environment and biodiversity and maintaining the sustainable development of resource utilization. The ecotourism activities of mingyuewan ancient village include:

Fireworks and Kongming lamps from January to February

February to March

In March, I came to Xishan to plant trees and adopt fruit trees

January April strawberry picking

Pick tea from March to may, watch Biluochun stir fry and taste tea

Loquat picking from May to June

June to July bayberry picking

Lobster fishing, fishing and swimming from July to August

Grape picking from July to October

Pear picking in August

From October to November, Taihu Lake hairy crabs, oranges and pomegranates were harvested

Transportation guide

Mingyuewan ancient village address: Shigong administrative village, Xishan Town, Wuzhong District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Self driving route

Xishan town has been changed into "Jinting". The road signs along the way have also been changed to "Jinting", which is the original "Xishan".

(1) Self driving route from Hangzhou to mingyuewan ancient village: (240km)

Hangzhou can go from Shanghai Hangzhou Expressway on Qianjiang second bridge to Jiaxing, then turn to Zhajiasu expressway, and then approach Suzhou. At the exit of Wuzhong District, turn to Suzhou Southwest Ring Expressway. The journey is about 18 km. Then go to xishanxia expressway, and drive to Taihu bridge. You can get to Xishan directly. Please pay attention to the road signs.

(2) Self driving route from Shanghai to mingyuewan ancient village: (120km)

A. Shanghai Nanjing Expressway - Wuzhong crossing of Suzhou Jiahang Expressway - Yuehu road - Taihu tourism highway - Taihu bridge - Jintang.

B. Hongqiao Airport Highway - Suzhou east ring road - Yuehu road - Taihu tourism highway - Taihu bridge - Jinting (Xishan).

C. Shanghai Nanjing Expressway - Suzhou Ring Expressway (East) Luzhi direction - Suzhou Shanghai Expressway (East Mountain and west mountain of Suzhou) - Xishan exit, turn right to enter Taihu Avenue - go along Taihu Lake and cross Taihu bridge (three in total) - Jinting (West Mountain).

(3) Self driving route from Nanjing to mingyuewan ancient village: (260km)

Shanghai Nanjing Expressway - exit of Suzhou New Area - Changjiang Road - Sufu road - tourist highway of Resort - Taihu bridge - Jinting (Xishan).

Bus routes

69, 58691.

Ticket Price

50 yuan (online order price 35 yuan)

Ticket group purchase 30 yuan

Address: No.105, Jinting Road, Xishan Town, Wuzhong District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province

Longitude: 120.27382659912

Latitude: 31.068957942605

Tel: 0512-61972600

Ticket information: mingyuewan ancient village ticket price: 50 yuan (online order price: 35 yuan)

Mingyuewan ancient village ticket group purchase 30 yuan