Lijiang is located in the northwestern edge of Yunnan Province. UNESCO declared it as a World Heritage Site in the year 1997 for its momentous town site, age old architectural legacy and the ancient system of water-supply. The history of Lijiang dates back to more than 800 years. One of the most detailed representatives of this town's splendor is its private houses, more popularly known as the Residential Houses of Baisha Town, Lijiang. The Residential Houses of Baisha Town, Lijiang are two-storied houses in Lijiang that are made of earth and timber. These private houses were built around a courtyard and followed the traditional layout pattern of 'three rooms with one screen wall'. These are very similar to the quadrangle built in Beijing.
'Three rooms with one screen wall' is one of the most typical and common floor plans in China. In the Residential Houses of Baisha Town in Lijiang, the main room faces the screen wall and the left and right wing rooms of the house form a courtyard that receives ample skylight in the middle. 'Four rooms with five skylights' is yet another variation of the layout plan of these residential houses. In this layout plan the screen wall is changed into an extra room and the four corners of the rooms are connected with skylights to bring in more light. Apart from these two styles there are many other layout plans as well. However the 'three rooms with one screen wall' layout is the root of all the others.
The Residential Houses of Baisha Town, Lijiang are richly ornamented, focusing primarily on the exterior corridor, the screen wall, the windows and the dooryard. The corridor and the screen wall are mostly adorned with marbles, while the wooden doors and windows of these houses bear intricate carvings of flowers, birds, fish etc. The dooryard of these Residential Houses in Baisha Town is generally paved with pebbles that have been set in different patterns representing plants, flowers, or the Eight Diagrams. Most of these houses have small backyard gardens as well.
For detailed information on Residential Houses of Baisha Town, Lijiang or other popular Tourist Attractions in Lijiang keep browsing travel.mapsofworld.com.
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