Tangyue Archway Complex

Tangyue Archway Complex, located on the East Avenue of Tangyue Village, Zhengcun Town, Shexian County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, is a representative work of ancient Huizhou architectural art from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The seven connected archways of Tangyue not only reflect the ethical morals of 'loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness' from the Confucian Cheng-Zhu school of thought, which are central to Huizhou culture, but also encompass the richly connotative humanistic history that prioritizes people, and they are also an important testament to the Huizhou merchants who dominated the business world for more than three hundred years. Each archway has its own touching story. When Emperor Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River, he highly praised the Bao family, the owners of the archways, calling them 'unparalleled in kindness and filial piety, the foremost in embroidered garments in the south of the Yangtze River'. The structural layout of the Tangyue Archway Complex adopts a strict central axis symmetry, giving a sense of solidity. It emphasizes the visual focal point with careful carving. Permanent farmland is preserved on both sides of the archway complex, with no structures around. From a distance, the seven archways seem to rise abruptly from the farmland, making them particularly prominent. Tangyue Archway Complex