consisting of two interior and exterior baileys the castle is one of the largest castle complexes from the Ming and Qing dynasties originally named Zhongdao Manor the House of the Huangcheng Chancellor was later named Huangcheng (meaning imperial city) after Emperor Kangxi twice visited the residential complex
it’s called The house of the Huangcheng chancellor but it is actually a castle the place is located next to Gouyu village across the river and has historically been a refuge for the villagers during times of unrest the Chen family castle started construction in 1440 during the Ming dynasty with construction continuing into the early Qing dynasty
the family started out as farmers but eventually ended up in the coal business through which they would acquire a large fortune with which they used to pay for the education of their descendants the family would end up producing 66 mandarins 33 famous poets and 9 first place holders of the local imperial examination system along with the teacher of the Kangxi emperor along with the editor in chief of the Kangxi imperial dictionary
the place takes up roughly 10 hectares of land divided into two baileys the walls of the castle have nine gatehouses and encloses over 90 thousand square meters with crenelated perimeter walls stretching 1700 meters long 19 courtyards and over 1,000 rooms
the interior of the two baileys are organized according to feng shui principles following a siheyuan style layout with the interior of the walls being divided into several smaller couryards the walls themselves feature several engaged towers along its breath the property was further encastellated in 1633 with the place receiving further expansion in 1703 the outer bailey facing south mainly contain staples warehouses and servants quarters
at the back end of the inner bailey is a courtyard of three large halls the area is flanked to it’s north by large a three storey main building flanked on either side by "wings" of two storey buildings further south of the main building you will find the keep named the Tower of Rivers and Mountains the keep is seven storeys tall excluding basements with a total height of 30 meters or about ten zhang the only entrance is on the second floor and is accessed by a bridgeconnected to a building on another level of the castle the basements feature several underground tunnels escape routes and secret passages it also includes a well along with a food storage area
places within the castle include
the shideyuan or the main residence (large building in the background of the picture above)
rongshan courtyard house
the Chen clan temple
the aforementioned tower of rivers and mountains (named after the famous book also visible)
villa of golden mean
house of the academician (a large complex within the castle that feature gardens halls a study bedrooms servant quarters etc)
the study halls
zhiyuan scenic garden (1.1 hectares)
the tower of imperial scribery (built to store writings gifted by the kangxi emperor to the family)
Douzhuju Residence
the Wenchang Tower
Chunqiu Tower of General Guanyu
the Xishanyuan Courtyard
the cave of fighters guard garrison
the qilin yard (chinese unicorn)
wanghe pavilion
the womans quarters
the Yard of Young Ladies
the Ziyunqian tombs
the southern-style West Garden
yard of the housekeeper
the lower servants quarters
I would just like to mention that the view in the above picture is from inside the inner bailey
88doublehappiness88 says
original post description for mobile users
consisting of two interior and exterior baileys the castle is one of the largest castle complexes from the Ming and Qing dynasties originally named Zhongdao Manor the House of the Huangcheng Chancellor was later named Huangcheng (meaning imperial city) after Emperor Kangxi twice visited the residential complex
it’s called The house of the Huangcheng chancellor but it is actually a castle the place is located next to Gouyu village across the river and has historically been a refuge for the villagers during times of unrest the Chen family castle started construction in 1440 during the Ming dynasty with construction continuing into the early Qing dynasty
the family started out as farmers but eventually ended up in the coal business through which they would acquire a large fortune with which they used to pay for the education of their descendants the family would end up producing 66 mandarins 33 famous poets and 9 first place holders of the local imperial examination system along with the teacher of the Kangxi emperor along with the editor in chief of the Kangxi imperial dictionary
the place takes up roughly 10 hectares of land divided into two baileys the walls of the castle have nine gatehouses and encloses over 90 thousand square meters with crenelated perimeter walls stretching 1700 meters long 19 courtyards and over 1,000 rooms
the interior of the two baileys are organized according to feng shui principles following a siheyuan style layout with the interior of the walls being divided into several smaller couryards the walls themselves feature several engaged towers along its breath the property was further encastellated in 1633 with the place receiving further expansion in 1703 the outer bailey facing south mainly contain staples warehouses and servants quarters
at the back end of the inner bailey is a courtyard of three large halls the area is flanked to it’s north by large a three storey main building flanked on either side by "wings" of two storey buildings further south of the main building you will find the keep named the Tower of Rivers and Mountains the keep is seven storeys tall excluding basements with a total height of 30 meters or about ten zhang the only entrance is on the second floor and is accessed by a bridgeconnected to a building on another level of the castle the basements feature several underground tunnels escape routes and secret passages it also includes a well along with a food storage area
places within the castle include
the shideyuan or the main residence (large building in the background of the picture above)
rongshan courtyard house
the Chen clan temple
the aforementioned tower of rivers and mountains (named after the famous book also visible)
villa of golden mean
house of the academician (a large complex within the castle that feature gardens halls a study bedrooms servant quarters etc)
the study halls
zhiyuan scenic garden (1.1 hectares)
the tower of imperial scribery (built to store writings gifted by the kangxi emperor to the family)
Douzhuju Residence
the Wenchang Tower
Chunqiu Tower of General Guanyu
the Xishanyuan Courtyard
the cave of fighters guard garrison
the qilin yard (chinese unicorn)
wanghe pavilion
the womans quarters
the Yard of Young Ladies
the Ziyunqian tombs
the southern-style West Garden
yard of the housekeeper
the lower servants quarters
I would just like to mention that the view in the above picture is from inside the inner bailey
Yangcheng Jincheng district Shanxi province China
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwcE0N2N4W4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oONApLHepKU
google’s excellent photo album of the place:
https://www.google.com.hk/maps/place/House+of+the+Huangcheng+Chancellor+%EF%BC%88Southwest+Gate%EF%BC%89/@35.512328,112.582051,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMGBS5IXkOJe2_VZ8glu7yy-xYC736hM_cmUbbJ!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMGBS5IXkOJe2_VZ8glu7yy-xYC736hM_cmUbbJ%3Dw203-h270-k-no!7i3024!8i4032!4m5!3m4!1s0x3677df19c857a883:0x86d1280c058e3f19!8m2!3d35.512328!4d112.582051
other lower quality photos from the interwebz
https://italyinwuhan.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/castle2.jpg?w=705&h=435&crop=1
https://dimg04.c-ctrip.com/images/100f0h0000009498w73EA_C_750_350.jpg?proc=source%2Ftrip
http://www.china.org.cn/wap/attachement/jpg/site1007/20150611/c03fd55e710816e330a92b.jpg
http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20150611/c03fd55e710816e330b74d.jpg
http://subsites.chinadaily.com.cn/shanxi/att/20180817/1534497613867069434.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/%E6%99%8B%E5%9F%8E%E7%9A%87%E5%9F%8E%E7%9B%B8%E5%BA%9C_-_panoramio_%2821%29.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DuXudMVW0AA5rsz.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b7/6c/18/b76c18187ed0aeb6ef8f915d5f95a279.jpg
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/22/c0/21/chen-jinting-s-birthplace.jpg
https://dimg04.c-ctrip.com/images/10060x000000kyu5m837D.jpg?proc=source%2Ftrip
https://dimg04.c-ctrip.com/images/fd/tg/g4/M07/F5/63/CggYHVXbom-AJ9AXAAIbA6RE7L8874.jpg?proc=source%2Ftrip
https://italyinwuhan.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/castle2.jpg?w=705&h=435&crop=1