Huangling Village, Wuyuan – Terraced Cloud Homes

In rural areas, drying crops is a common agricultural practice seen in mountainous regions like Hunan, Anhui, and Jiangxi. Due to Huangling’s uneven terrain, flat land is scarce, so rooftops have become the primary space for drying crops. To adapt to the natural landscape, every household in Huangling has constructed drying racks on their rooftops. The contrast in height between the drying racks and rooftops, combined with the village’s houses spread across nearly a hundred meters of elevation, creates a multi-layered effect in the drying process. This practice, known locally as “Drying Autumn,” has become a popular subject for artists and photographers. Although the term “autumn” implies a seasonal association, drying crops occurs year-round, making Huangling’s drying scenes a notable and picturesque feature often referred to as a “most beautiful Chinese symbol.”

Each spring, Wuyuan’s rapeseed flower fields attract hundreds of thousands of visitors, becoming a hallmark of “China’s most beautiful countryside” and earning titles such as “Top Ten Flower Seas in China” and “Beautiful Chinese Countryside.” Huangling’s ink wash-style terraced fields have been rated as one of the “Top Ten Most Beautiful Terraces in the World.” In March, Huangling’s rapeseed flower sea reaches its peak viewing period. Since 2019, to extend the flowering season, Huangling has cultivated a second-phase high-altitude flower sea using late-blooming varieties in the high terraces. Covering approximately a thousand acres, this second-phase flower sea, with its significant altitude and low temperatures, can last until early April.

In traditional Huizhou villages, the layout is meticulously planned with attention to Feng Shui principles. Huangling Village is designed with the layout of “Tianjie Nine Alleys, Three Bridges and Six Wells.” Tianjie, the village’s main street, stretches 388 meters from east to west, with nine alleys branching off to reach various corners of the village. As Huangling’s “commercial street,” Tianjie is lined with shops offering local specialties: on-site wood carving from Wuyuan’s three carvings, bamboo crafts, handcrafted umbrellas, and traditional paintings. Here, visitors can also enjoy local Wuyuan snacks such as steamed cakes, Qingming cakes, pickled vegetable pork buns, tofu pudding, and stinky tofu. Additionally, Tianjie offers “farmhouse banquets” featuring homegrown and self-hunted ingredients.

Since 2017, after the rapeseed flowers have bloomed, Huangling’s tourism area has introduced the “Flower Town” theme. The town features vibrant blooms including pansies, roses, and hydrangeas. Huangling’s Flower Town not only offers an abundance of flowers but also unique floral-themed installations like “Joyful Door,” “Happy Reunion,” and “Flower Peppa.” The traditional Huizhou-style buildings in Flower Town follow the natural mountain contours, with ancient streets, alleys, and corners adorned with colorful flowers. The main flowering season runs from April to August, with a variety of herbaceous plants blooming in succession – from peach blossoms, pear blossoms, and cherry blossoms to bougainvillea, vervain, wisteria, and alpine plants.

The Shuikou Rainforest, located in the Shuikou area of Huangling Village, offers a blend of leisure experiences, ecological green spaces, and photo opportunities. Surrounded by ancient trees such as yews, fragrant maples, camphor trees, and rough-leafed trees, the forest floor is covered with a rich variety of tropical plants. The integration of stream waters and mist creates an environment with high levels of negative ions, making it a real-life version of “The Emerald Forest.” The forest and mist not only provide a visual feast but also effectively lower the temperature.

In late December of the lunar calendar, Huangling Village kicks off its traditional New Year celebrations with a range of folk activities. These include mountain deity worship, the “dog dance” performance, autumn sun-drying feasts, glutinous rice cake making, the Long Dragon Feast on Tianjie (Heavenly Street), and Huizhou wedding customs exhibitions. The Wuyuan Nuo Dance, also known as the “Ghost Dance” or “Demon Dance,” is an ancient Chinese dance tradition and considered a “living fossil”. Originally a ritual for blessings and prayers, it has evolved into a popular folk dance. On the second day of the lunar New Year, Huangling Village hosts Nuo ceremonies for blessing, fortune, and prosperity. Around the Lantern Festival, various villages in Wuyuan perform dragon lantern dances. In the local dialect, “lantern” (灯) sounds like “prosperity” (丁), symbolizing the wish for thriving offspring. On the fourteenth day of the lunar New Year, Huangling Village parades with dragon lanterns to pray for blessings.