Dou Shan Lane, located in the center of Shexian County, is one of the famous historic and cultural towns in China and well known for its typical construction style of the local residential houses. Residential houses, whose characteristics are whitewashed walls, grey tiles and all kinds of stone carving ornaments, flank the winding lane, paved with large pieces of stone slabs. Among them the most outstanding are the Xu, Yang and Wang residential homes.
The most attractive part of the houses are their elaborately carved beams and colorfully painted pillars. All the houses are two stories, wood-bricked structures with 3 to 4 courtyards in successive order. If you push through the front gate, you'll see an exquisite skylight (Tian Jing). Stone carved windows with landscapes in the yard are main characteristics of the space. Feel free to step in the hall, which has a bedroom on either side, coming into view as the ornament of wood carvings on the beams or pillars.
The vivid figures of carvings originate from traditional Chinese legendary stories and common practice. The ornaments have superb workmanship that can be seen everywhere in the house, which reflect the prosperous period of local merchants who made great fortune in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The representatives of ornaments in houses are the art carvings on wood, brick, bamboo and stone. The other homes worth seeing include that of: Dou Shan Lane are Ye Chastity Archway, the Toad Well and an ancient manger connected with Yue Fei, an ancient hero in Chinese history.
