Xinye

Zhejiang


There is a lovely big-family feel to this village in Zhejiang Province, and no wonder when virtually everybody is related across a 'Ye' surname family line stretching across about 30 generations. A wander through its ancestral halls and around its adjacent ponds and pagoda makes an insightful day trip from Zhuge (or even Hangzhou) for a peek at rural life, even if its run-down wooden homes often are a beauty of a raw kind.

After Xinye featured as the location for season two of Chinese TV hit Dad, Where are We Going? (爸爸去哪儿第二季) in 2014, pulling in 75 million viewers per episode, urban parents began travelling to the famous rural town with their children (mirroring the premise of the show) to soak up the nostalgia.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Zhejiang attractions

1. Hall of Good Order

0.01 MILES

This hall is central to the village; its front door does not open so its accessible side door faces out onto pyramid-shaped Daofeng Mountain (道峰山, Dàofēng…

2. Shuangmei Hall

0.03 MILES

This hall is a lovely wood-panelled affair containing intricate and exquisite carvings above its pillars.

3. Wénchāng Hall

0.05 MILES

A signature sight, the Wénchāng Hall contains a portrait of Confucius and an adjacent shrine (土地祠, Tǔdì Cí) to the village god (for good harvests)…

4. Tuanyun Pagoda

0.14 MILES

The white and elegant seven-storey Tuányún Pagoda is the definitive image of the village. There is a small pond beside the pagoda.

5. Xishan Ancestral Temple

0.15 MILES

Dedicated to the ancestors of the Ye clan, this peach of an ancestral hall dates back to the Yuan dynasty.

6. Chongren Temple

0.19 MILES

This temple, the village's largest, is dedicated to the ancestors of the Chongren, a sub-clan of the Ye people of Xinye. The Chongren are the wealthiest…

7. Yongmu Hall

5.97 MILES

This fine Ming dynasty hall features an eye-catching central stone door frame plus an exhibition dedicated to local culture.

8. Shouchun Hall

5.97 MILES

One of Zhuge’s 18 halls, Shouchun Hall is a long sequence of chambers and courtyards alongside the rectangular Lower Pond (下搪, Xià Táng).