Yunfeng Tunpu Scenic Area

Yunfeng Tunpu Scenic Area is also known as Yunfeng Bazhai Scenic Area. The area consists of a museum and eight villages, namely the Tunpu Culture Museum, Ben Zhai, Yunshan Tun, Lei Tun, Xiaoshan Zhai, Zhang Zhuang, Zhulin Zhai, Wu Tun, and Dongkou Zhai. The eight villages were once the strongholds of the Ming Dynasty in more than 600 years ago. Currently, they are regarded as the living sites for studying the Tunpu Culture (Tunpu means build stronghold and have garrison troops open up wasteland and grow food grain). The scenic area is located 18 km south of Anshun and Yunshan Tun, Ben Zhai and Tunpu Culture Museum are the most-watched.

Yunshan Tun

Located at the foot of Yunjiu Mountain, Yunshan Tun served as an important military outpost of the Ming Dyansty. The village was originally built in 1381 and a limpid stream twining through it. It is said that the village was impregnable in the past 600 years as it has stone walls, stone gates, stone guard towers, stone theatrical stage, stone houses, stone temple, stone street and even the stone daily utensils.

In Yunshan Tun, The houses' architectural style is very similar with those in ancient Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Some houses with many beautiful carvings. Like their ancestor (the soldiers of Ming), the villagers usually eat the food which is suitable for a long journey and requiring no cooking. They perform a very strange opera-Dixi(Ground Opera). When perform the opera, the actors must cover their face with a black crepe and wear a mask on their foreheads. This adds mystery to the opera.

Rambling around this beautiful village, you could find some women who still wear the Ming style garments. This scene only can be seen in the costume play. But as a matter of fact, you have got into a real 14th century's Chinese village.     

Ben Zhai

Ben Zhai was once a Ming general's base camp in more than 600 years ago. It is embraced by green mountains and clear waters, hence is considered as a valuable land with a good geomantic omen by the ancient local geomancers. Like Yunshan Tun, Ben Zhai also characterizes itself as a stone village. Seven high stone watchtowers scatter and oversee the whole village. The houses are imposing and with spacious courtyards, naturally, they were also built of stone. They have the very beautiful carvings engraved on the windows and gates. Nearly all houses are connected each other by a secret door. This guarantee the villagers can keep a good communication when the village was attacked. The houses' walls are very unique. The walls have shooting holes; some walls were inlaid the eatable bricks (a special solid food); some walls were designed in sandwich type. They served as food storages when a war came. Besides the stone houses and watchtowers, Ben Zhai has many stone things such as grinder, hourglass, gatepost couplet, vats and many other strange stone tools of labor that we cannot name.
Like the people in Yunshan Tun, the villagers of Ben Zhai are also the descendants of the Ming expeditionary army. They keep still the way of life in the Ming Dynasty, eat the food with military flavor and wear the costumes that were popular in over 600 years ago. Ben Zhai people also perform Dixi (Ground Opera) during the festivals or great events. In Ben Zhai, the women usually enjoy their needlework in a tower, which is called "Zou Ma Zhuan Jiao Lou".

Tunpu Culture Museum

The museum is made up of 4 sections: The outdoor exhibition area, indoor exhibition area, Dixi Art Wall and Dunpu Culture Wall. The museum records the history of Tunpu culture and shows many traditional instruments of labor from the eight villages, pictures, culture relics, carvings, masks for Dixi (Ground Opera) performance and many local traditional costumes. The museum also offers Dixi performances for its visitors.