Mighty relations seen

JIEXIA Village in Doumen has been selected out of 133 villages in the province as a Guangdong Provincial Ancient Village candidate. An expert panel is conducting an on-site visit to collect evidence.
The village was built between 1821 and 1850 by wealthy drug dealer Zhao Weimao and his descendants. The first three houses were expanded to 14 buildings with wing rooms, studies, art gallery and guest halls. Surrounded by a moat, the village has a 13.2m long and 4.3m wide equestrian granite road. There is a Chongji Hall covering 1,000sqm with 72 doors and literary and martial clubs.
The Zhao Family Clan is the offspring of the last emperor of the Song Dynasty. Thus the village is the only one in the province built by an emperor’s descendants, experts say.
Efforts should be made to discover more merits of the architecture and residents, which will benefit the preservation and exploitation of cultural relics.
Once a village is designated a Provincial Ancient Village, the expert panel will report it to the provincial government for salvation, preservation and exploitation, according to expert Liang Wenwei.