Hongcun is the village on the front of the calendar — mirror lakes under white walls and horse-head gables, a water channel running past every door, film crews and art students chasing the same reflections. An Anhui merchant clan shaped the whole settlement like an ox five centuries ago, and the United Nations listed it with neighboring Xidi as World Heritage. Come for a night: the village you walk at noon belongs to tour groups, but the village at dawn belongs to you.
