Guangcun village, an ancient village with a history of more than 3,000 years in Shanxi's Xinjiang county, is a vivid representative of antique traditional culture.

As early as the Neolithic Age, people began to settle here. The ancient village took shape during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC) and the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). It's said Guangcun village was the origin of the descendants of Lin Xiangru, a politician of the Warring States period (475-221 BC) who served the state of Zhao.

With unique cultural relics and historic sites such as temples, performance stages, ancestral halls and dwellings, Guangcun village has two national level and three provincial level culture protection sites that are of significant research value.

It has more than 100 quadrangle dwellings. Exquisite woodwork carvings, stone-carved plinths, wood buildings with handrails, and windows with carved patterns or designs can still be seen in some of the dwellings.

When you stroll on the little paths paved with blue stones and look at these antique dwellings, you may have a vague sense of the prosperity of this location in ancient times.

A ceremony unveiling a plate naming Guangcun village, in Xinjiang county of Shanxi's Yuncheng city, as a China Famous Historical and Cultural Village is held on March 4, 2011. [Photo by Gao Xinsheng/Asianewsphoto]