ladies and gentleman,good morning!welcome to shanxi!its my great honour to stand here to be your tour guide,please allow me introduce myself,my name is z,u can call me Doris too.the man who sitting beside me is our driver Mr li ,he has more than ten year’s experience in driving so he will makes our trip a safe and pleasant one .we will do our best to make your tour pleasant and enjoyable .
shanxi has long been known as "ancient architecture museum of china".A great many civil houses build in Ming and Qing Dynasties have been preserved in here.they are the testimony of history of Shanxi Merchants .the Courtyard of Family Qiao that we will visit today is one of them
Courtyard of Family Qiao located in Qixian County in Shanxi Province ,54 km south of Taiyuan.this is a kind of civil house ,it is the most complete civil house which is preserved in china.it occupying area of 8725 square meters,while the floorage occupies 3870 square meters.it has 6 compounds,20 small courtyards,313 housings
there isnt any flagpole or stone lions outside the gate,but those tall walls could shows the prestige of the owner.houses in this yard was designed quite naturally perfect,it shows the characteristic style of the civil houses in north .its highly valuable in the study of history,in scientific researches,it is also valuable as a tourist resort.The specialists and scholars commend it as "a bright pearl of the civil houses in north".there is a screen wall facing the gate of a house,we called this "zhaobi",we can see it consisting of hundred forms of the character for “shòu” ,it means longevity.
after we entry the front gate,we see the map first,there are 6 compounds in total.the houses in northern yard was tall,its the residence of elders.relatively low houses in south lived the younger generation.