It is the former residence of Tao Yuanming (A.D. 365–427), a Chinese poet and politician who lived during the Six Dynasties period. The architecture in the village is in the classic traditional Hui style.
There is a pond in the center of the village, and in the quiet moments of early morning and evening, the old buildings around it are beautifully reflected in the water. I wanted to photograph that, so I came with my drone early in the morning before any tourists showed up.
What I did not expect was that when I flew the drone to a certain angle, the rising sun cast the shadows of the buildings and trees onto the pond. Those shadows came together and looked like a Gothic-style church. It felt as if there was another world inside the water, where Eastern and Western architectural cultures suddenly existed in the same frame. It was really strange, and really fascinating.
