Songyang Ancient Villages: Time-preserved Amber Hidden in the Mountains of Southern Zhejiang

If you're tired of crowded ancient towns, why not turn your attention to Songyang in southwestern Zhejiang? It is home to more than 200 ancient villages from the Ming and Qing dynasties, like amber forgotten by time, where even the moss on the bluestone slabs tells stories from a hundred years ago. I've gotten lost here three times, but each time I've stumbled upon surprises—the horsehead walls in the morning mist, the red peppers in the drying ground, the aroma of Dragon Boat Festival tea wafting from the old teahouse… This small city, dubbed the "Last Jiangnan Secret Realm" by Chinese National Geography, is waiting to heal your urban anxiety with its everyday life. --- I. Geographical Background: An Ancient Village Museum Locked Deep in the Mountains Songyang is located in western Lishui, Zhejiang, surrounded by mountains like a natural barrier. Most of the ancient villages here are built in mountain valleys at an altitude of about 500m, with terraced fields winding from the foot of the mountains to the clouds. The rammed earth walls of the houses are scattered around, perfectly preserving the settlement pattern of the Tang and Song dynasties. Due to its remote location, it was not until 2013 that a concrete road was built, which saved 71 national traditional villages from demolition and reconstruction. Walking through it, you will have the illusion that you have strayed into the blank space of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"—pushing open the window in the morning reveals terraced fields with rolling clouds, and at dusk you can see the cooking smoke and sunset glow dancing the tango on the rammed earth walls. --- II. Travel Highlights: Touching the Breathing History 1. Architectural Codes Hidden in the Yellow Mud Walls It is recommended to visit Yangjiatang Village (known as the "Little Potala Palace of Jiangnan") and Chenjiapu Village (where the cliffside bookstore is located). The yellow mud wall is not a symbol of poverty, but the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancients who mixed glutinous rice, tung oil, and lime to build it. It has remained as strong as ever for a hundred years. The hexagonal window of Huang's Grand Courtyard contains the meaning of "harmony and spring in the world", and the "farming and studying for generations" plaque on the lintel still shines with a warm luster. It is recommended to chat with the old people at the entrance of the village. They can always point to a carved brick and tell the legend of "the Huizhou master in the Guangxu period spent three years carving it". 2. Seasonal Variations of Terraced Fields and Tea Gardens Spring in Songyang belongs to the 10,000-mu tea garden. Before Qingming Festival, tea-picking girls carry bamboo baskets and shuttle through the clouds, and the air is filled with the aroma of tender chestnuts. In autumn, the terraced fields of Shicang Ancient Village overlap with golden brown ripples, and the scene of old farmers leading water buffaloes across the fields is more moving than any postcard. If you want to experience it in depth, you can stay in a rammed earth homestay with a terrace, and watch the clouds and mist rising from the tea ridges in the morning light, and you can't tell whether it is reality or an ink painting. 3. Wonderful Encounters with Living Fossils of Intangible Cultural Heritage • Yanqing Temple Pagoda: Next to the leaning pagoda of the Northern Song Dynasty, there is a thousand-year-old camphor tree whose roots tightly embrace the ancient pagoda, which can be called an "architectural miracle" in the plant world. • Shaqiu Museum: In a seemingly ordinary farmhouse, chili peppers, corn, and dried pumpkin are dried on bamboo plaques to create a rainbow color spectrum, which is the color aesthetics of the mountain people. • Ancient papermaking: In the ancient papermaking workshop in Fengping Township, you can make a "thousand-year longevity paper" that breathes with mulberry bark. --- III. Local Culture: The Philosophy of Life in the Mountains 1. Sunning: Turning Life into Art Songyang from September to November is an ocean of sunning, with bamboo plaques filled with dried persimmons, dried bamboo shoots, and dried plums in every household, and even the clothesline has become a natural picture frame. Don't underestimate these sun-dried items—dried plums are the soul of "pancake", and stewed old hen with dried bamboo shoots can instantly break the defenses of wanderers in other places. 2. Bamboo Weaving and Herbs: Inheritance on the Fingertips In the craftsman's workshop in Shicang Ancient Village, 70-year-old Grandpa Zhou can weave a rotating "Bagua cage" with bamboo strips, and a grass-woven grasshopper can jump three feet high. If you visit in autumn and winter, you may wish to follow the villagers to pick some Houttuynia cordata and raspberries, and they will teach you how to use the ancient method to prepare "Dragon Boat Festival tea"—this is the "holy water" for Songyang people to dispel dampness and detoxify. 3. Life Immersed in Tea Fragrance Songyang tea gardens have high altitudes and large temperature differences between day and night, and the produced Silver Monkey Tea has its own orchid fragrance. Follow the tea farmers up the mountain in the early morning and watch them use bamboo tubes to collect mountain spring water from the rock crevices to make tea. You will suddenly understand why Lu Yu said "mountain water is the best, river water is in the middle, and well water is the worst". --- IV. Travel Advice: Be a Smart Explorer 🚗 Transportation Take the high-speed train to Lishui and get off, then charter a car to take the S222 Provincial Highway (the scenery along the way is so beautiful that you want to stop ten times). It is recommended to arrive on Friday afternoon to avoid the weekend tourist rush. 🏡 Accommodation It is recommended to stay in "Guoyun Mountain Residence" in Shicang Ancient Village or "Yunduan Seeking Realm" in Pingtian Village. The rammed earth house with a view from the window is warmer than a boutique hotel. Remember to ask the boss for a sunning recipe! 📸 Photography Tips • 6:30-7:30 in the morning, Yangjiatang Village is most photogenic when the morning mist has not cleared • Choose a sunny day after the rain, the yellow mud wall will absorb enough moisture to show an amber luster • Let the locals be models—the picture of the old man smoking a pipe and the woman shelling lotus seeds has its own sense of story 🍲 Gastronomic Eggs Must-try "pancake rolls with three shreds" (tea leaves, dried bamboo shoots, vermicelli), Qingming dumplings (cudweed + cudweed juice), and Sha Lei Tangyuan (salty meat filling is the true love of the locals). ⚠️ Precautions • Some ancient village stone steps are steep, wear comfortable non-slip shoes • Respect the living habits of the villagers, do not take pictures of the interior scene without permission • Drone photography is prohibited around ancient trees and ancient houses --- Epilogue: An Antidote for Urbanites In Songyang, time is not for chasing, but for soaking. When you finish watching the sunset in the cliffside bookstore in Chenjiapu Village, when you see children folding small boats out of bamboo leaves by the Shicang Stream, those anxieties about the fast-paced life will be blown away by the mountain wind. The magic of this small city lies in: it does not cater to any travel guides, but quietly waits for you to come and listen to it tell the story of mud and years.