The Seven Dynasties ancient fortress hides a rare 100-pillar temple in the south, dedicated to a carpenter founding emperor!147

There are many ancient towns and villages on the thousand-year-old Xiahe ancient road, compared to Hunan's Shanggantang Village, Gou Lan Yao Village, Guangxi's Xiushui Zhuyuan Village, Xishan Village and so on, Guangxi Fuchuan Yao Autonomous County Fuxi ancient village is more little known, but it is such a low-key ancient Yao Village, but there are many ancient houses, ancient theatre, ancient gatehouse, ancient study hall, ancient inscriptions, stone roads, wind and rain bridges, raw roots of stone ...... and two Ming Dynasty Ma Yin Temple, which is known as the "Hundred Pillar Temple" because there are 120 pillars in the Ma Chu Du Temple, which is one of the rare wooden Ming Dynasty ancient buildings in Guangxi.

The record of the source of Fuxi, "Zhou, Jiang, Chen, He surnames of the sage ancestors, divided into different counties and counties, in the late Tang and early Song dynasties, successively migrated to the beginning of the topography of the bumpy height, so the name Tuoxi. After the ancestors of the remote wilderness development, the expansion of the construction of the building, the abundant and prosperous, settled and happy, the name was changed to Fuxi."

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, when the Zhou and Jiang surnames settled in Fuxi, the ancient Fuxi has gone through seven dynasties and thousands of years, and its ancient charm still exists today, making it an ancient Yao village that does not require an entrance fee and is worthy of being savoured.

Don't miss the nationally protected wind and rain bridge outside the village. Next to the pagoda of Fuxi Village, there is the Jinxi Wind and Rain Bridge, which is included in the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units "Fuchuan Yao Wind and Rain Bridge Group".

Compared with other wind and rain bridges, it is rarer to find a curved section of the ancient Qing Shi Xiao He Road next to the Jin Xi Wind and Rain Bridge, which is one of the few historical remnants of this thousand-year-old road.

To visit Fuxi Ancient Village, you can park at the free parking lot of the village, and then walk into the village.

Fuxi Village is relatively large, and it takes about one hour to walk through it. The village includes about ten spots worth seeing, such as Xiaohe Ancient Road, Lingxi Crossing Street, Hundred Pillars Temple, Thirteen Gate Buildings, and Zhongling Wind and Rain Bridge.

There is still a section of the ancient Xiaoga Road preserved in the fields at the head of the village. The old road goes straight into the village, and the greenstone road passes through the village, preserving the appearance of hundreds of years ago.

This is the picture of Fuxi, which is still an ancient village with its original ecology after thousands of years.

Although Fuxi has long been listed as a famous Chinese historical and cultural village, no entrance fee or parking fee is required, there are not many visitors in the village, and two orange cats look at me warily as a strange visitor.

You don't have to worry about getting lost in the village, just walk slowly along the old stone road, accompanied by the stream along the way.

The stream that runs through Fuxi Village originates from an underground river spring at the head of the village, which springs continuously all year round.

The clear spring is still an important source of water for the villagers, who wash dishes and laundry in this abundant stream.

If many ancient villages are accompanied by streams, it is very rare to find strange rocks all over the village road, and the many natural rocks in Fuxi Village have become a unique scenery of the village.

These stones are called raw rocks by the villagers and are found by the stream, by the roadside, at the bridge, and in the temple ...... strange stones coexist harmoniously with the ancient village, adding a bit of natural elegance.

Villagers do not mind these stones, but clever use, some of the stones are even used as house foundations, for hundreds of years to firmly support the homes, become a veritable "bearing stone".

There are two ancient wooden buildings in the village that should not be missed, both in honour of Ma Yin, the Emperor of Southern Chu, one is called the Ma Chu Governor's Temple and the other is called the Ma Chu Great King's Temple, both built during the Ming Dynasty.

The Ma Chu Governor Temple is the famous "Hundred Pillars Temple", which was built in 1413, 160 years before the most famous wooden structure in Guangxi, Rongxian Zhenwu Pavilion.

The most distinctive feature of this Ming Dynasty temple is its pillars. The whole temple is supported by 76 ancient mahogany and ancient sequoia round wood pillars of 2-5.6 meters in height and 20-38 centimetres in diameter, 44 hanging pillars and bracket pillars, which are fixed by moonbeam, bracket peak, bracket foot and mortise and tenon, without using a single iron nail.

Ma Chu Dudu Temple, also called Lingxi Temple, enshrines a statue of a military officer from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period when Ma Yin of Chu was called Dudu.

There are still many ink inscriptions and painted pictures on top of the beams in the temple, but the inscriptions are blurred and the existing ones are from the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

Like other places in the ancient village of Fuxi, there are natural stones in the temple, but the stones were never an obstacle for the people of Fuxi, but a natural embellishment.

What is more interesting is that one of the 76 round wooden pillars in the temple is supported on top of a natural stone, which is very unusual.

On the altar in front of the Ma Chudu Temple, there stands a stone statue of Ma Chudu King sitting. Who is this Ma Chudu King Ma Yin and why is he so revered in this place?

Ma Yin, who claimed to be a descendant of Ma Yuan, a famous general of the Han Dynasty, was born around the sixth year of Dazhong of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty (852 AD), and was a native of Yanling, Xuzhou.

What does he have to do with Guangxi? During his reign, he adopted the strategy of "serving the emperor above and the people below", rewarding agriculture and mulberry, developing tea, advocating weaving, paying attention to trade, and reducing taxes for the people so that the economy of Southern Chu could develop and the people could live and work in peace and happiness. Therefore, he was admired.

Because of the short history of the reign of Ma Yin in Southern Chu, it is not uncommon to find Ma Yin temples in Guangxi, Hunan, but the only village with two Ming Dynasty Ma Yin temples is probably Fuxi ancient village.

The other ancient temple, Ma Chu Da Wang Temple, is about 400 meters away from the "Hundred Pillar Temple", Ma Chu Du Du Temple, one in the middle of the village and one at the end of the village.

Ma Chu Da Wang Temple, also called Ma Wang Temple, is not as good as Ma Chu Du Du Temple in terms of architecture, but it was built in 1396, 17 years earlier than Ma Chu Du Du Temple.

The Ma Chu Governor's Temple is dedicated to a statue of a military official from the time when Ma Yin of Southern Chu was the governor, while the Ma Chu King's Temple is dedicated to a statue of a civil official from the time when Ma Yin of Southern Chu was the king.

In addition to the two ancient temples of the Ming Dynasty, there is also a wind and rain bridge of Zhongling in the Qing Dynasty, which is still a resting place for villagers.

Zhong ling wind and rain bridge are written "Zhongling" on one end, and "Yuxiu" on the other, and there are also many "rooted stones" at the bridge, the scenery has remained the same for hundreds of years, but the historical records of the ancient road of Xiaohe "ancient road busy, rutting, merchants through, freight," has long become a historical memory.

The village of Fuxi is also home to the descendants of Zhou Dunyi, the progenitor of the Song Dynasty, and the glory of his ancestors has inspired future generations, with 5 scholars and 35 officials wearing official hats in its history.

I came across a building in the village, the walls are full of holes, can you guess what this is for if you are smart?

As the years go by, this beautiful and ancient 1,000-year-old Yao village in Fuxi still remains in its original form.
After visiting a number of ancient villages along the Xiaohe ancient road and in Fuchuan Yao Autonomous County, Fuxi ancient village is one of the best, with a unique topography, located in a valley surrounded by five mountain beams and no other habitable terrain for several kilometres around. A clear spring brings an aura to the thousand-year-old village. Here ancient buildings abound, from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Fuxi is like a relic pearl sprinkled on the ancient road of Xiaohe, still shining after a thousand years.