Anhui Old Town of Tunxi, China

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Old Town of Tunxi

The Old Town of Tunxi is located in the Yellow Mountain City of Anhui Province. The classical town is like a moving painting of "Qing Ming Shang He Tu".

The town is 1.5 meters long and about 7 meters wide. Going west from the republic of the East Street, you will find the road made up with weak brown giant stones with clear lines.

On both sides of the street, there're houses and houses, all of them are made up of bricks and woods with two floors: they have white "horse-head walls" and blue little tiles on the roofs. All the penthouses are long and wide. There are windows and columns with colorful flowers carved on them.

All the doors have signboards with golden lines and black paint. The lights with eight angles and the traditional flags hanged on the doors are swaying in the wind. Classical houses! Having seen all of them, you will not be surprise why the town is called the moving painting of "Qing Ming Shang He Tu".

All the shops in the town are not very big, but they are pretty deep with heaven wells on the backs. The front of the house is for business and the back is for living, such kind of construction system is still reserved.

There are more than ten shops with long history in the town. Among them, the Tong De Ren Chinese Medicine Shop was founded in the 2nd year of Tongzhi Period of Ch'ing Dynasty and has a history of more than 120 years.

You will find the world famous Qimen Black Tea and Tunxi Green Tea in the market of the town. Besides them, in ancient arts there are four treasures in the study, especially in Huizhou, famous for its ink and ink stone. Artworks from the four carving art materials of Huizhou (brick, wood, stone and bamboo), Hui style of Chinese painting, print, inscription, stones, potted landscape and carved root etc. Surround by many beautiful and elegant arts, the old town is like a simple and unadorned gallery.

The charming old town has attracted great number of photographers. They came to photograph and report the beautiful scenes of the town and have accomplished more than 100 films and TV sets about it.

Because it is to the south of the Yellow Mountain scenic spot, the town is always the first station for the tourists who want to travel around the Yellow Mountain. There are also many famous historic relics in the area of Tunxi.

History

Tunxi is the area where the city government of the Yellow Mountain lies. Legend said, during the years of the Three Kingdoms Period (221-263A.D.), He Qi, a general of the Wu State once settled his army here when he was attacking the North Yue State, this is why the area is call Tunxi. There is another saying about the name of the area: many springs merge here.

The area of Tunxi has a long history, abundant products, and developed culture. From the tombs, many historic relics like bowls, dishes were unearthed from the west of the city. A book titles "The Chinese History" written by Guo Moruo, a famous literature giant says that all the discoveries are important of studying the history of Chinese pottery and porcelain. On the other word, Tunxi is an important market place of ancient Huizhou.