Songyang Ancient Villages (Yangjiatang)
松阳古村落·杨家堂
A representative village of Songyang, known as the ‘last hidden paradise of Jiangnan’, its yellow mud-brick houses stacked up the mountainside earn it the nickname ‘Golden Potala Palace’.
Songyang County, in northwest Lishui, preserves more than 100 traditional villages with intact layouts. Over 70 of them are on China's national list of traditional villages, which ranks among the highest in East China. The area is known as the ‘last hidden paradise of Jiangnan’. Yangjiatang Village sits on a mountainside in Sandu Township. Founded in the late Ming or early Qing dynasty, it has dozens of Qing-era Song family courtyard houses built in tiers that follow the terrain. Its rammed-earth walls glow golden in the setting sun, which is why it is called the ‘Golden Potala Palace’. Woodcarvings and brick carvings on the ancestral halls and gatehouses, along with the wall inscription ‘Farming and reading as family heritage’, are well preserved. Nearby sites can be linked into a Songyang village route. These include Chenjiapu (Xuanya Village and the Xianfeng Bookstore ‘People's Bookstore’), Jieshou Village (its old street and Yu King Temple), and the Damushan tea gardens. In recent years, design-oriented guesthouses and ‘old house rescue’ projects have also drawn many visitors. The village is free to visit, and a tour takes about 1.5 to 2 hours. Getting there: from Songyang county town, a taxi takes about 30 minutes. Driving or hiring a car to visit several villages is recommended. Note: villagers still live here, so please do not enter homes without permission and respect their privacy.
Opening hours
All day