Folk Houses of Han

Folk house was one of the earliest architectural types. It is the name of residential architecture in the architectural history of China. There are folk houses of both the Han people and the ethnic minorities in north Guangxi. Since they are unique in architectural pattern and spatial combination, and perfectly integrate with the natural environment of the mountainous regions in north Guangxi, they are generally known as the most representative buildings of the folk house culture of Guangxi. 

We are looking at a folk house of Han people now, which is restored based on a folk house of Han people in Quanzhou County, Guilin. Quanzhou is located in north Guilin, which connects Hunan and Guangxi. Folk houses here are mostly constructed with the architectural form of Han Nationality in the Central Plains. We can see through its architectural pattern and decorative characteristics that this house was built under explicit dual impact of both the folk house of Han people of the Central Plains and those of minorities in north Guangxi. This folk house is applied with independent courtyard architectural pattern, black bricks and grey eaves tiles, which seem plain and unadorned. The entire yard is composed of screen wall, gate, courtyard, central room and wing rooms, etc. Matou walls (corbel steps), which mean "horse head walls" in Chinese, are arranged row upon row and provided with typical Anhui-style architectural features.