The ’roundest village in China’

The 800-year-old ancient village of Jujing is located in Dashan town, Jiangxi province. Looking down from above, the village forms an almost closed circle. Therefore, this place is known as “the roundest village in China”. Many tourists describe the village as “round like a kitchen sink” or in the shape of an eight trigram.

Established in the early Song Dynasty, Jujing village was planned by He Pu, a famous feng shui master. The shape of the village was not intentionally created by humans. Legend has it that before the village was built, this mountain valley was eroded into a circular shape by flash floods.

People then built the village according to this terrain and the surrounding stream provided drinking water for households. In addition, Jujing is also considered by many to have beautiful feng shui thanks to its “mountain position facing the water” terrain (back against the mountain, face facing the river).

Jujing village has an area of ​​about 40,000 m2, with several hundred households living, most of whom have the surname Ha. This is also the hometown of He Ruchong (Ha Nhu Sung), Great Scholar, Minister of Household and Rites during the Ming Dynasty. In the village there is still the road of the Ha family.

Coming here, visitors will encounter ancient stone-paved alleys, rows of houses with white walls and black tile roofs, along with scenes of kitchen smoke and the sounds of chickens crowing and dogs barking typical of the countryside.

Connecting the big road with the small road into the village are small, narrow wooden poles with a width of less than 1 meter. Tourists walking through for the first time are a little scared, but people can easily pass by even in the dark.

Due to the mountainous terrain on all four sides and the humid and rainy climate, the village is often engulfed in dense fog. Every early morning, a mist covers the entire space, creating a magical, poetic scene like a fairyland.

The river water flowing rapidly all year round around the village, pouring down from the mountains, is also the main source of water for people to do laundry, wash vegetables and do daily activities. The water flows down from the mountains so it is very clean. People hardly use chemicals when washing clothes. Due to the wet weather, people often pick a lot of chili peppers to avoid cold; On beautiful sunny days, they will dry chili peppers to eat later.

Despite attracting a large number of tourists, the village still retains its rustic and peaceful features, being compared to a “Shangri-La” in real life.

In 2019, Jujing was included in the List of Traditional Villages of China. To preserve the ancient architectural complex, the government stipulates that people can only build new houses in planned areas outside the village. Thanks to that, Jujing still retains its ancient appearance for many centuries.