Liujiang ancient town is located in Hongya County of Sichuan Province. The town was dominated by a few wealthy families in the old time. Their well-preserved traditional Chinese garden style residences, together with the nearby mountains and the brooks running through the town compose a beautiful oily painting landscape picture.
Zeng Jia Da Yuan (Zeng's Family Garden) is located at the north part of the ancient town. With an exquisite design, It was first built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Taking a bird's eye view, the whole garden's lay-out looks like the Chinese character 'Shou' (longevity). In order to build this 'shou' (longevity) house, many twisting lanes and curved eaves were designed. Nowadays, this old residence is still regared as a good fortune land site. It is very quiet inside the old house now,nobody lives in it anymore, except for a few hens wandering around searching for pests to eat. Near the Zeng's Family Garden is a narrow lane leading to the tidy and pretty town. Wooden doors and windows, black tiles and lichen on the walls make the small town look like an ancient poem. Sometimes, the local warm-hearted people invite visitors to their homes for a cup of tea or just for a free chatting. Walking eastwards through the town, you will see a large banyan tree alongside the Huaxi River. A crossing made of paving stones was built over the river, which is used by local women as a place to wash clothes. The paved stone crosssing, the streams running through the town, the clothes washing women...all of these show us a natural and relaxing picturesque landscape.
Fewer and fewer young people live in the town nowadays because most of them go to work in big cities, and those who do enjoy a very leisure life. Women sit in the doorways making shoes by hand, while men play cards and children do their homework with dogs sleeping beside them. Everybody is in a calm and peaceful life, with the only noise coming from the admiring tourists. In recent years, thousands of tourists come to visit the town. The local people are used to receiving throngs of visitors, and they will ask the visitors to hire them as guides at the town. It seems that the hundred years old town is becoming more and more commercialized. Nobody really knows it is good or not!
