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Cuan Di Xia, a tiny village 90 kilometers west of Beijing, is set in a narrow valley off the old trade route to
Shanxi.
Cuan Di Xia means "under the stove". According to villagers, the village is so named because ancestors wished to keep out of cold and storm. It is said that a scholar-official surnamed Han and his family fled from Shandong during the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle (1403-1424) and settled in this remote village Today, all the villagers in Cuan Di Xia are still surnamed Han.
The village faces south and nestles on the north side of the valley. It boasts 76 sets of well-preserved siheyuan (courtyard houses). The impressive dwellings stand along a north-and-south axis line and extend downward from the Dragonhead Hill in a fan shape. Families in charge of village affairs live in houses along the axis line and houses for other families of the clan are located on each side in a symmetric way. Building complexes with such a well-planned layout are rarely seen in other villages.
Courtyard houses in Cuan Di Xia combine delicate designs of south China architecture and magnificent styles of north China compounds. They are open to the inside and closed to the outside Walls are built to encompass several adjacent courtyard houses to protect privacy and enhance security. Streets are paved with purple, blue and gray stones Years of wear and tear make them shining and gorgeous. Shops and inns are open along the street to serve passing merchants and travelers. There were eight shops and three or four inns during the reign of Qing emperors Kangxi and Qianlong (1662-1796) and the famous brands among them included Ruifu Tang, Ruiqing Tang etc.
Different historical periods have left behind signs in this hidden Arcadia，Mottos and inscriptions of the Ming and Qing dynasties and slogans during the anti-Japanese war, the Korea war, the Great Leap Forward period and the Cultural Revolution can be seen on house walls of the village.
Opened to tourism in 1997, Cuan Di Xia now becomes an ideal destination for those with a passion for Chinese vernacular architecture or those keen for a glimpse of life of rural China. In July 1999, the local district government worked out detailed measures to protect the village's traditional houses and original cultural landscape.
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