It may surprise you to know - China`s largest folk residence is actually located ina small corner of Southeast China`s Fujian Province. Taking a panoramic view of the residence. what may impress you most is its rigorous defence system and the Confucian culture embodied in every brick of the building.

Honglincuo. nestling in Bandong Village in Minqing County of Fujian Province. began construction in 1795. and finished 28 years later in 1823. The whole mansion covers an area of 17832.28 sq m. with 35 halls. 25 gardens. four wells. 13 major doors. and 666 rooms. The compound is basically symmetrical along its central line and was built by medicinal materials dealer Huang Zuobin during the Qianlong Reign of the Qing Dynasty.

 
Walking into the mansion. you can see each row of buildings is more spacious than the previous. Different generations live in different rows of the compound according to seniority. so the builder Huang Zuobin once lived in the third row. For many years Huang Zuobin was ill. so he named the compound after his oldest son Honglin rather than himself; the word cuo in the local language means house. hence the name. Honglincuo.

Huang Dezhan. current owner of Honglincuo. read an article in a newspaper titled ``Ganxi - China`s largest ancient folk residence`` in November 1994. He then wrote a story to challenging the idea that Ganxi was the largest folk residence in China. He had strong arguments: as an ancient residential compound. Honglincuo occupies a larger area. and its architecture techniques are also more advanced. His claim attracted a battalion of scholars from Beijing. Tianjin. Wuhan. and Guangzhou to come to Honglincuo to do field research. who finally came to the conclusion that Honglincuo fully deserved the title of the `largest` of ancient Chinese residences.

According to Huang Dezhan. current owner of Honglincuo. ``the largest mansion south of the Yangtze River`` located in Yueyang County of central-south China`s Hunan Province covers an area of about 9.000 sq m. The Grand Courtyard of the Wangs and The Grand Courtyard of the Qiaos in North China`s Shanxi Province consist of more than one compound. Yongding Round Earth Building also in Fujian Province covers an area of about 11.000 sq m. while Ganxi Residence in Nanjing. which was previously thought to be the largest. is about 14.000 sq m.

Besides its large scale. Honglincuo has much more to offer in its graceful and well-designed details.

As a whole mansion completed upon one design. Honglincuo survived the 200 years that were marked by continuous wars and social unrest in China. Honglincuo escaped the flames of war and natural disasters. and the Huang family prospered and multiplied in this mansion. This has much to do with the unique structure and design of the building.

The water system was very delicately constructed with four major north-south channels and three east-west ones. crisscrossing each other. The water is from the hill behind the building. and it flows past the ancient mansion to the farms nearby. The water can also be used to extinguish fires when the sluice is shut.

Together with devices to contain natural disasters like fires. the defence system can also ward off the invasion of robbers or bandits. guaranteeing the safety of the building for more than two centuries. In the northeast and northwest corners of the mansion. there are observation windows. which are called `bunny ears` because that is what they resemble from the outside. They serve as today`s blockhouses.

Along the side door passage. one sees windows with fences that appear to be used for ventilation purposes. yet in fact they are hidden rooms for defence purposes.

 Cat`s way

Cat`s way is one of usually neglected innumerable details that contribute to the mansion`s greatness and durability. As its name suggests. this small device serves as the gateway for cats to enter and exit. but its function is not limited to this.

The existence of the cat`s way has much to do with the wooden structure of Honglincuo. All the six sides of the houses there are made of wood. and the four walls and the roof are all exposed to open air. with only the floor close to the earth. making it prone damage from damp and rot. To solve this problem. the designers and builders of Honglincuo used their ingenuity or creativity. They dug the floor about one to 1.2 meters deep. and built several stonewalls. on which beams were placed. Floorboards were laid on the beams. The spacious room beneath the floor kept wooden floor free from the corruption of the humid earth.

However. without ventilation. the stagnant air in the room can also easily mildew the wooden floor. Besides. small animals like mice hide themselves under the floor and it`s hard to catch them. Thus a small hole called a cat`s way was built to serve as a humidity adaptor. Mice`s natural enemy. cats. can easily enter and exit the hole. guaranteeing the sanitation of the space beneath the floor as well.

After more than 200 years. the wooden floors are still firm and steady - partly thanks to the amazing functionality of the cat`s way.

The Rectifying Heart Stone

On the ground of the pavilion that connects the second and third rows of the compound lies a set of stones. In the centre there is piece of square stone. Its position on the central line reveals its importance. and implies that it serves as more than mere decoration. 

According to seniors in the family. this is called kuangxinshi. which means rectifying heart stone. It is used as a kind of punishment towards those who break the household rules. The patriarch orders those whose hearts need to be `rectified` to kneel down on the stone. to repent and confess in front of the ancestors.

The rectifying heart stone is not unique to Honglincuo. In the Confucius Mansion in Qufu. Shandong Province. folk residences in southern Anhui Province. and Zhou Zhuang near Shanghai . you can also find Kuangxinshi. Its function of rectifying hearts faded over time. but its architectural charm lingered. Author: Jeff