Ming Village day trip

UPDATED 2010/8/24: Changed to an 8am departure.

On this hike we’ll take a good look around the alleys and courtyards of Cuandixia, a 500-year old Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) village that is sometimes referred to as a living museum. After exploring the village, we’ll eat a big lunch of country-style food, and then take off for a nice walk in the hills around the village before heading back to Beijing. It will be quite a long day, but well worth it!

The drive out to the village is long and scenic, following a national road through mountains and along the bottom of deep canyons, passing through small townships in the mining country of west Mentougou district.

We’ll arrive at Cuandixia mid-morning, and immediately begin our exploration.

‘Cuandixia’ translates roughly as ‘Under The Oven,’ which could be interpreted as meaning a good safe spot that’s hard to find. You’ll also find it on maps as ‘Chuandixia,’ as the character for Chuan (川) is much less complicated than that of Cuan (爨).

The village lies on the side of a hill on the old road between Beijing and Xi’an, and is made up of many well-preserved stone buildings, including about 70 courtyards. The majority of these courtyards are now guesthouses, and the owners are usually happy enough to let people explore. In the village we’ll find much history, with old Cultural Revolution slogans slowly fading on some of the walls, and art, stone, and wood work from the Qing and Ming Dynasties. Cuandixia was lucky to escape destruction during the war, while some other villages in the area were destroyed almost completely.

After walking around the village and exploring the alleys, lanes, paved stairs, and courtyards, we’ll get a hot lunch at a village guesthouse. The guesthouse is the one that we stay at on our overnight hikes, and serves good food (as well as Chinese liquor that’s infused with bat, lizard, snake, ginseng, and other ‘delicacies’).

Once we’ve let our lunch settle, we’ll hike up to an abandoned village, set on a plateau on the hills behind the village. This village was abandoned for lack of water, and now only a farmer and his wife live there. The farmer holds an old superstition unique to the people of that valley, and we got in a bit of trouble once because we didn’t know about it. The superstition? Women are not allowed near the sheep, because they might make the sheep sick! When we visit we will have to be careful about that. When he’s not protecting the sheep from women, the shepherd grows vegetables, hemp, and a special sort of tea.

The hiking part of this trip begins with a tough climb up a rocky spur, but after that it’s all easy. We’ll have great views of mountains and old terraced orchards, and also a chance to have a quick look around the crumbling buildings of the old village. Most are in pretty bad shape, but there’s an old archway and spirit wall still standing firm. From the archway, we’ll head down a valley trail and out along an old watercourse, and then back along the road to Cuandixia.

What to bring on this hike?
Snacks
Sun protection: hat, suncream, sunglasses, long-sleeved shirt
Good hiking boots
(Click here to read our full What To Bring on a Hike list.)

Previous visits
View photos and a write up from an October 2009 overnighter in the Cuandixia area.