The two traditional villages of Xidi and Hongcun in Anhui province preserve to a remarkable extent the appearance of non-urban settlements of a type that largely disappeared or was transformed during the last century. Their street plan, their architecture and decoration, and the integration of houses with comprehensive water systems are unique surviving examples.

Xidi Village:

Xidi Village is located in the southeastern part of Yixian County and has over 300 simple, yet graceful, Ming and Qing dynasty residences, of which 124 are well preserved. The village streets and lanes with their original style remain as they have done for centuries, and the village has been praised by foreign architects as containing some of the best preserved old-time houses and as being one of the most beautiful villages in the world. Typical structures in Xidi include a pailou to the residence of the Qing prefectural governor Hu Wenguang, the Ruiyu Courtyard, the Taoli (peaches and plums) Garden, the Dafu Grand House (home of a senior official in feudal society), and Lingyun Tower.
Approximately 54 kilometers from Tunxi where Huangshan Municipal Government is seated, Xidi is a village that extends 700 meters from east to west and 200 meters from south to north. It has more than 1,000 people in 300 households.

As one enters the village, a five-storey bluestone torii catches one's eye. It is an ancient-style gate that is supported by four posts and five studs. Lofty and steep, it is a fit expression of the brilliant status achieved by the Hu family. In the middle of the village is a hall named "Lufutang Hall". Dating back to the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1662-1722), the hall is known for its elegant decoration and scholarly atmosphere. Another ancient building, called "Big Mansion", was built in 1691. A wooden sign on the building says "The Family of Peach Blossom Cradle". Somehow it has long been part of a folk lore that the main hall of this building served as the place where girls from the Hu family threw a highly elaborate ball of embroidery at random to find their husbands-a custom that was prevalent in many parts of China.

Touring the village today, one never fails to be impressed by the fact that every house represents a treasure house where traditional Chinese works of art can be found. There are, for instance, small but intricately laid-out courtyards and gardens, stone doorframes and windows with carved flowers, birds and beasts, brick and wood carvings featuring ancient theatrical scenes, and ornate drawings and frescos.

Hongcun Village:

Hongcun Village is about 11 km from the county town of Yixian County. Hongcun originally was constructed for the settlement of those whose family name was Wang, in North Song Dynasty (960-1127). In Hongcun, hundreds of ancient houses stand row by row, the best-known being Chengzhi House built by a salt merchant in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911).

The whole village was originally laid out in the shape of an ox. The west end of the village, called Leigang Hill, resembles an ox head and that is where two huge trees stand like ox horns. At the front and rear of the village are four bridges that span a Jiyin stream and resemble four legs of the ox. The several hundred well-arranged houses form the body of the ox, and the 1,000-meter-long Jiyin stream that meanders through the village is regarded as its intestines. A crescent pond in the village is the ox‘s fourth stomach, and a larger South Lake is its reticulum, the second stomach. The villagers of Hongcun long ago designed this marvelous landscape.

The villages of Xidi and Hongcun are graphic illustrations of a type of human settlement created during a feudal period and based on a prosperous trading economy. In their buildings and their street patterns, the two villages of southern Anhui reflect the socio-economic structure of a long-lived settled period of Chinese history.The traditional non-urban settlements of China, which have to a very large extent disappeared during the past century, are exceptionally well preserved in the villages of Xidi and Hongcun.

On November 30, 2000, Xidi and Hongcun were chosen to be placed on the List of World Cultural Heritage sites by UNESCO.