Bijiang Golden House is located in Bijiang Village, Shunde District of Foshan. It adopts construction features of the Ming and Qing dynasties with the unique Lingnan style, which has a history of hundreds of years. It was originally built by the local Su Family as bride’s dowry, which is magnificent, distinguished and elegant. It is the National 3A Class Scenic Spot.
Features of Bijiang Golden House
Bijiang Golden House is composed of many ancient buildings such as Ni House, Golden House, Nanshan Memorial Hall, Jianlong Gate, Mu Memorial Hall, the Great Screen and Sanxing Mansion. The building complex combines the functions of house, ancestral hall, study and garden with the ancient architectural characteristic of Lingnan.
Among the ancient buildings, the Golden House is the most eye-catching one. Golden House is formerly known as the Fuhe House. It was decorated with splendid wooden carvings, which were mostly covered with gold foils. These skillful works of carvings almost covered all the techniques in the art of woodcarving. The craftsmen used the traditional Chinese themes and adopted some various foreign art styles, which fully demonstrated the essence of Lingnan culture. The daughter of the famous minister Dai Hongci, Dai Peiqiong, married Su Boyu in this house in the late Qing Dynasty. The Golden House was the dowry of the bride.
The house also preserved the wooden and stone plaques, calligraphy and paintings inscribed by Liu Yong, Song Xiang, Wang Wenzhi, Zhang Yuesong, Dai Hongci, and other Qing dynasty renowned art masters.
Interesting Spots of Bijiang Golden House
There are three “wells” in Bijiang Golden Building, though the building is not so big. There are two water wells in the courtyard and the main hall. The third “well” is the Sunk Panel, or Zao Well, which is actually the ceiling of the building. The dome-shaped ceiling of the building is called Sunk Panel in the past, decorated with colorful and artistic patterns, carvings and paintings. The wells in the yard and the main hall are mainly used for fire prevention and cooling. The Sunk Panel has a small diameter with five bat-shaped carvings on it, which means five blessings.
In the reign period of Qing Emperor Daoguang, Su He made twenty-four chants, summarizing the local natural and cultural landscape of Bijiang Village. Based on this chant, he carved a copper wall to reproduce the historical and prosperous Bijiang Village. The vivid and specific wall is 23.8 meters long and 1.5 meters high. It was regarded as Bijiang version of "Ascending the River at Qingming Festival".
The garden of the Golden House is beautiful and attractive covered with flowers, grass and trees. There is the Longan Tree in an age of 100 years old and the Crape Myrtle Tree of more than 200 years old.