Overview
Chinese Name: 乔家大院
English Name: Qiao Family Courtyard; Courtyard of Family Qiao; Qiao Jia Da Yuan
Location: Jinzhong, Shanxi
Type: Ancient culture and art
Rating Level: AAAAA (5A)
Brief Introduction
Qiao Family Courtyard is a national key cultural relics protection unit, a national second-class Museum, a national cultural relics advanced unit, a national youth civilization, and a patriotic education base in Shanxi Province.
Qiao Family Courtyard is located in Qixian County祁县, Shanxi Province. It was built in 1756. The whole courtyard is in a double “喜” shape. It is divided into six large courtyards, with 20 small courtyards and 313 houses. The building area is 4175 square meters. It faces the street on three sides and is surrounded by a fully enclosed green brick wall of more than 10 meters. The gate is a city gate-type cave. It is an ancient house with the architectural style of traditional folk houses in the north.
The Qiao’s courtyard is a magnificent architectural group. Its exquisite design and fine workmanship reflect the unique style of the residential buildings of the Qing Dynasty in China. It has a high appreciation, scientific research, and historical value. It is an unparalleled art treasure house. It is known as “a pearl of the northern residential buildings”. It is known as “the Imperial Palace故宫 is built by the royal family and the Qiao’s family is seen by the people’s houses”. It is famous in Shanxi and is well known at home and abroad.
What are worth visiting and seeing？
History of the Courtyard of Family Qiao
During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1616 – 1911), after separating from his two brothers, Qiao Quanmei乔全美 bought several homesteads in the northeast corner of the crossroads and began building buildings. The main building is a brick and tile house on the hard top of the mountain. It is of brick and wood structure. There are windows without doors. Stairs are built indoors. It is characterized by thick walls, small windows, solid and solid, and it is the inner five outer three courtyards.
To the east of the main building is the original house, which has also been renovated as a side yard. The second entrance of the side yard was also converted into a study, which was the earliest courtyard of the Qiao family courtyard, that is, the old courtyard. It is said that there was originally a Wudao temple outside the sideyard. In front of the temple, there were two locust trees, which grew strangely and were called “holy trees”.
After Qiao Zhiyong乔致庸 came to power, he continued to build large-scale buildings for Everbright. He bought a large area of homestead across the lane on the west side of the old courtyard and built a building courtyard, which is also five in the inner and three in the outer, forming a two-story confrontation. The main building is a structure of exposed columns hanging from the top of the mountain.
Collections
A mercury glass ball hung on the ceiling. It is said that it was bought by the Qiao family from the United States. The image of the people in the hanging room will be reduced to a certain scale on the ball. At that time, the Qiao family hung it on the house to monitor the people in the house when they met and talked about business. It can be called the first monitoring probe in the world, and it was very rare at that time.
The rhinoceros lunar scope is a mirror with a diameter of about one meter. The frame of the mirror is made of ironwood, the hardest and rare wood. The rhinoceros is carved with auspicious clouds. The auspicious clouds curl under the round mirror like colorful clouds baking the moon. The rhinoceros under the auspicious clouds glance back as if looking at the bright moon.
Rhinoceros lunar scope is unique in shape and beautiful in style. It has both practical value and ornamental value. It can be called a rare treasure. The mirror is composed of three parts. The upper mirror is round, representing the moon, the middle is auspicious clouds, and the base is a rhinoceros.
Jiulong lantern九龙灯 is one of the best collections of Qiaojia courtyard folk custom museums in Qixian County, Shanxi Province. In the Qing Dynasty, it was made of mahogany. In the past, when Empress Dowager Cixi慈溪太后 fled to Xi’an after the Boxer Rebellion八国联军 invaded China, the Qiao family donated 300000 taels of silver to Empress Dowager to meet her urgent needs. Empress Dowager Cixi gave two Kowloon lanterns to thank her for her loyalty. So far, no third lamp has been found in the country.
The main body of the lamp is divided into three layers. Taking a comprehensive view of the whole ware, the production process is exquisitely carved and exquisite, the structure and shape are unique, and the dynamic and static are combined. It is a luxurious and beautiful wood carving craft.
