Taihu's first ancient village

Paradise above, Suzhou below, refers to Suzhou and Hangzhou. The Wuzhong District of Suzhou was established as a county system as early as the Qin Dynasty, with a history of more than 2000 years. On this ancient land, 40 kilometers away from Suzhou, there is a quiet and low-key ancient village from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, named Luxiang Ancient Village, located in Dongshan Town, on the east bank of Taihu Lake, enjoying the reputation of 'Taihu's first ancient village'. Luxiang Ancient Village was first built in the Southern Song Dynasty, the specific era is unknown, with a history of a thousand years. It is said that during the Southern Song Dynasty, a group of generals invaded from Taiyuan to here, among which generals with surnames such as Wang and Ye settled here, built many houses, and six surnames formed six ancient lanes, covering an area of tens of thousands of square meters. Since the establishment of Luxiang Ancient Village, it has been a land of outstanding people and spirit. In history, it has produced 1 top scholar, 1 third place scholar, 11 imperial scholars, 46 successful candidates in the imperial examination, and is the hometown of Ye Mengde, a famous minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Ao, a prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, and Wang Shichen, a top scholar of the Qing Dynasty. Today, 4 of the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences come from Luxiang Village. The architecture in Luxiang Village is currently the highest quality, most numerous, and well-preserved ancient village in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the Jiangnan region. Today, there are more than 20 well-preserved Ming Dynasty buildings in the village, and Qing Dynasty buildings are everywhere. The most famous of these ancient buildings are Baojian Hall and Huihe Hall. Luxiang is surrounded by mountains and water, with large plantations of orange trees and tea trees in the mountains. The Biluochun tea produced in Luxiang is fragrant and refreshing, and the local white sand loquat is now in the harvest season, as well as red oranges, bayberries, pomegranates and other fruits, Taihu's three whites, shrimp and crab are well-known, and the white jade square cakes and salty dumplings on the street are never boring. A bite of the square cake made of glutinous rice flour, the clear taste of glutinous rice mixed with the strong handmade bean paste, is soft, glutinous, crispy and fragrant. The village streets are built with green brick stones in a herringbone pattern, and the main street is paved with strip stones. Among them, Zishi Street is the central street of Luxiang, with a road surface made of purple stone slabs, first built in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, running north-south. There are 3 archways on Zishi Street, which were built when Wang Ao was the top scholar, the second place scholar, and the third place scholar. Centered on Zishi Street, streets and lanes extend in six directions, with dozens of residential buildings distributed on both sides of the six streets and lanes. If you like Ming and Qing architecture, you will definitely not miss the many ancient buildings in the village. If you like eating, drinking, and playing, it is the season for picking bayberries and loquats, and you must not miss it.