The Moon Pond, named “Moon Pool” by the civilians, is the so-called “bull tripe ”. It was firstly built between 1403—1424 (the Yongle Period of the Ming Dynasty). At that time there was a man named Wang Siqi, who discovering a natural fountain in the village, gushing ceaselessly in winter and the spring, invited for three times a geomancer, He Keda, in Haiyang county (today's Xiuning), together with able persons in his own tribe, to investigate the mountains and rivers all around, and formulate a blue print in extending the basic site of Hongcun Village, programming the whole village with this “bull-shaped” water system. The project was meant to guide water from the western brook around the residence, with the curving ditch as the “bull intestine”; water was also to be guided into the village center to build the Moon Pond, in order to store up water for drinking and fire fighting. A follow-up investment was made by his decendent Wang Shengping, with the continuous working upon the ditch and the lune pond. Finally the Moon Pond was completed, with its green water all year round, its mirror-like surface, the bluestones spread in its neighbourhood, pinkish walls and black tiles orderly rowing on its sides, and the blue sky and milky cloud reflecting in it. The old people always have a chat among themsleves beside the pond; together with them are the washing women, and the frolic children.
Actually, the Moon Pond and its neighbourhood haves become a world sharing by people, an open air stage for the performance of folk custom, and an assemblage venue for the villagers.
Isn't it an absorbing Southern Anhui folk cunstom painting with geese waving their red feet and duck playing with the clear waves in the pond, and dense kitchen smoke dancing with the soft wind? Therefore it is called by some as “the village in a piece of traditional Chinese painting”. |
Asia Travel 
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