Strange story in the village that no one dared to enter for over 600 years

With its unique architecture, "China's number one strange village" makes visitors get lost once they enter, unable to find their way out .

"China's number one village"

Gia Cat Bagua Village, formerly known as Cao Long Village , is located 18km west of Lanxi City, Zhejiang Province, China.

According to records, this was the settlement of Zhuge Liang's 27th generation descendants. This village was also the largest settlement of Zhuge Liang's descendants during the middle and late Yuan Dynasty.

Gia Cat Village.

Why is this Zhuge Village considered the first strange village in China ? Here is the explanation for this.

First, the vast majority of the villagers are descendants of Zhuge Liang , a talented military strategist and prime minister during the Three Kingdoms period. In other words, almost everyone in the village has the surname Zhuge or is married to someone from the Zhuge family. There are very few people who are not members of the Zhuge family.

The first strange village in China

According to a statistic in the 7th Zhuge Liang Conference, there are about 16,000 descendants of Zhuge Liang in China. Of these, a quarter (about 4,000 people) live alone in Zhuge Liang village.

Zhuge Liang village seen from above.

Second, this village is also strange in its sophisticated and mysterious layout.

From above, the entire arrangement and distribution of houses and alleys in the village all match Zhuge Liang's Bagua diagram in history.

Road in Gia Cat village.

The terrain of Gia Cat village is arranged in the middle low and flat, the surrounding area gradually rises. Water flows from above and gathers in the central area, forming a pond called Chung Tri pond.

This pond is a special feature of Zhuge Liang village, and is also the starting point of the Eight Trigrams. The pond is not big, but it has water inside and land outside, and its shape resembles the Taiji in the Eight Trigrams. It is truly strange.

The central pond of Gia Cat village.

With the pond as the center, there are eight alleys extending in all directions, leading straight to eight high mounds outside the village.

In the village there are also many narrow alleys connecting horizontally, in the alleys there are thousands of households, many ancient houses scattered among the alleys.

The alleys near the central pond are initially relatively straight, then gradually bend and widen outwards. In addition, there are many alleys connected vertically and horizontally, looking like a maze.

For hundreds of years no one dared to set foot in this village.

Outsiders often find it difficult to get out of alleys, and can even get lost. In addition, high walls block the view, making it difficult for strangers to judge the direction. The further they go, the easier it is to get lost because they don’t know where the exit is and where the dead end is.

In addition to its anti-theft purpose, the design of Gia Cat village also helps prevent flooding. Accordingly, the village has an underground drainage system located in an unnoticed location at the foot of the mountain. The underground drainage system is paved with limestone, and over many years, an underground river has formed. Therefore, over the past 600 years, despite frequent heavy rain and storms, Gia Cat village has always been dry.

Interestingly, Zhuge Liang's descendants who lived here for hundreds of years did not realize the miracle of this arrangement. It was not until related records were found in an ancient book that people understood.

The design of Gia Cat village also helps prevent flooding.

Is an interesting tourist destination in the country of billions of people

Zhuge Liang’s descendants are the largest gathering place, with most households in the village bearing the surname Zhuge Liang. The entire village is a huge living cultural relic, a model of complete preservation of ancient Chinese architecture. When you come to this strange village, you will easily find a house that is more than a hundred years old.

The village's landscape is diverse and beautiful, including rows of ancient houses and an ancient commercial center built around a pond. There are more than 200 houses and well-preserved ancient architecture from the Ming and Qing dynasties, including 18 large and small halls, four temples and three stone domes.

In addition, similar to the basin layout of the village, people in Gia Cat town mainly use the four-sided courtyard method to build houses, that is, the four sides of the house are closed, leaving only a large courtyard in the middle. The front of the house is usually higher than the other sides, so when it rains, all the water gathers in the middle courtyard. The people of Bat Quai village call this "phì thủy bất ô lưu" (clear, fresh water does not flow outside) , which will bring luck and prosperity to the family.

The entire village is a huge living cultural relic.

Before passing away, Master Zhuge Liang left a will not to change the current state of the village. Therefore, many houses here still retain the architectural style of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Notably, after 600 years of history, Zhuge Liang's temple is still present in Zhuge Liang village, attracting visitors.

Life in the ancient village of Bagua Gia Cat is extremely peaceful, with fresh air and green landscapes. This is the ideal space for tourists to relax after stressful working days. Many foreign tourists have come here to admire the natural scenery and experience the unique structure of the village.