Qiao’s Grand Courtyard is situated in Qiaojiabao Village in Qi County, Shanxi Province. It is 54 kilometers far from Taiyuan and only 2 kilometers from the Dongguan Town. Qiao’s Grand Courtyard is also known as Zaizhongtang. It is the house of Qiao Zhiyong who is a famous commercial finance capitalist in Qing Dynasty. It was first built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty. After two times repair and an expansion, due to the efforts of several generations, a magnificent building was accomplished in the first years of the Republic. That is the Qiao’s Grand Courtyard which represents the typical architectural style of northern residences in Qing Dynasty.
The courtyard is a full-closed buildings group, likes castle. Its total area is 10,642 square meters. Its construction area is 4,175 square meters. It is divided into 6 big yards, 20 small yards and 313 rooms. Three sides of Qiao’s Grand Courtyard face streets. It is totally separated from the neighbor residences. The outer brick wall is closed and over 10 meters high. The upper part of the wall is female wall
which has gaps in it at certain distance. The wall also has Genglou(likes bell tower, it was used to tell time) and Vision House that make the wall seem more majestic. The door of Qiao’s Grand Courtyard sited in the west and faced the east. There is a tall loft on the door. On the opposite side of the door is a brick wall which carved one hundred ‘Shou’ characters (shou meaning long life in Chinese). Inside the door is a stone corridor. Each side of the corridor has guard wall. At the end of the corridor stands the ancestral shrine. There are three big yards in the north of Qiao’s Grand Courtyard. They all have bid doors which allow wagon and Sedan Chair to get in. The stone and pillar at the outside of the bid door are used to tie horse and help people get on wagon. From east to west, it is the Old Yard, North-west yard and Study Yard in order. Each yard is divided into main house and affiliated houses. The masters lived in the main house. The affiliated houses are used as guests’ rooms, servants’ rooms and kitchen. The affiliated houses usually are lower and simpler than the main house in order to show the different classes. Each yard is connected by corridors on roof. This design can increase the safety of the courtyard.
The layout of the courtyard is precise and the design is compact. Overlooking the shape of the courtyard likes a ‘Xi’ character in Chinese. Every detail of the courtyard is elegant. The courtyard fully showed the high level architectural techniques. Experts titled it as ‘the bright pearl in the architectural history of the northern residences’. Therefore there is a saying that ‘emperor has the Palace Museum, while common people have Qiao’s Grand Courtyard’. It was well-known at home and abroad.
In 1985, the local government changed Qiao’s Grand Courtyard into a folk customs museum. On November 1st, 1986, it was officially opened. Over 5,000 relics were displayed which reflect the folk customs of Shanxi province. So far it has received over 8 million tourists.
Qiao’s Grand Courtyard Story
1. There are three things in Qiao’s Grand Courtyard you must see. These three things fully reflect the huge wealth and influence of Qiao’s family
Crystal ball: the crystal ball hangs up on the ceiling. It was said that the ball was imported from America. According to a certain proportion, the crystal ball could reduce the image of people in the house and reflect. It was used to monitor the people who are doing business in the house. It could be called as the first monitor in the world.
Rhinoceros Watching Moon Mirror: the mirror is about 1 meter in diameter. The frame of the mirror is made of the most rare and hard wood of Mesua ferrea. The back of the mirror was cared with rhinoceros and clouds. The clouds around the mirror make the mirror resembling moon. The rhinoceros was looking up at the moon. That why the mirror was called as Rhinoceros Watching Moon Mirror.
Nine Dragons Lantern: when the Empress Dowager Cixi fled to Xian because of the invasion of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, Qiao’s family donated 30,000 silver to Cixi for emergencies. As a reward for the loyalty of Qioa’s family, Cixi gave them two Nine Dragons Lanterns. So far nobody has found the third same lantern.
2. Divine Tree: when Qiao’s Grand Courtyard was first built, there was a shrine out of the affiliated house. And in front of the shrine stood two pagoda trees. The two trees looked very strange. It was said that they were divine trees.
Qiao’ family had meant to move the shrine but retain the trees. One night Qiao Meiquan, the master, had a weird dream. In the dream, an immortal said, ‘If you move the shrine without moving the trees, the trees will die and your family will become poor.’ At first, the master thought it was just a dream and didn’t take actions. Soon, the trees were dying. The master was afraid that the dream would become tree, so he moved the trees immediately. And the trees soon revived. It seemed that the immortal really existed.
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