Although time has left its imprint in the maze-like streets and lanes, the houses, archways, temples and numerous wood carvings, brick carvings and stone carvings and murals and plaques are part of the life of the present-day Liukeng villagers.
   It is not a rigid and dead historical site. It is a natural village that has lived for 1000 years and is still living.
    There are many ancient villages in China. But Liukkeng is unique.
    Judging the popularity of a place by the number of talented people it produces, Liukeng is worthy of its name. Historically, the village contributed 32 successful imperial examination candidates, all coming from a clan, with the family name of Dong. A whole village has one family name - this is another wonder. The whole village regards Confucianism scholar Dong Zhongshu of the Han Dynasty more than 2000 years ago as their patriarch.
    One village, one family name - this is rare in China. Liukeng has therefore become a model for observing the ancient Chinese society. With its glory and decline, it is an epitome of Chinese social history. It has preserved the best part of the ancient culture but also the dark side of it. It has also demonstrated how new times and new life grew in the centuries-old social entity.

Wonders of Liukeng

In the middle of the 10th century, a scholar with the family name of Dong took his family to Beiyuan of Linchuan, Jiangxi Province. The.
    beautiful rivers and fertile land attracted him and Dong decided to settle down there. He built a house and opened up a piece of land.
    It was the Five Dynasties period in China. Many people from the north migrated to Jiangxi. When Dong set his feet in Liukeng, it was just an important period when Jiangxi culture was forming and developing.
    As a scholar, he applied what he learned from the ancient culture in building his village. Based on geomantic theory, he changed the site of the village twice. At first, he built it by the Bainitang on the northern bank of the Wujiang River, in the outward arch at the turn of the Wujiang. According to geomantic theory, it is a place unfavorable for long-term living. Not long after, he moved the village to Baimaozhou on the southern bank of the Wujiang River, an alluvial bank. However, a geomantic master named Yang Junsong told him that a place named Zhongzhou on the western bank of the Wujiang River would be the best place to live, as the village had water in front and “official cap” on the back. It was prone neither to drought nor floods, favorable for living and growing crops.
    Dong followed his advice and made Zhongzhou the site of his village.
    To the west of the village is a string of wetland, known as Dragon Lake and on the western bank of Dragon Lake is an inhabited highland lying in the south-north direction. Further west, there are hectares of fertile paddy fields. A creek originated in the southwestern corner of the basin runs through the paddies. It was called Longxi. Two pieces of highland sandwiched by three rivers of Wujiang, Luhu and Longxi was deemed by geomantic theories as the best habitat. Liukeng is on the highland.
    A panoramic view of the village shows remarkably well-planned layout, with seven east-west lanes and one north-south thoroughfare, each lane directly leading to the Wujiang River. The seven horizontal lanes are linked with the south-north vertical lane. The bigger lanes are also criss-crossed by a number of smaller lanes, just like a checker board. The roads in the village are paved with pebbles and lined with drainage ditches. Rainwater and sewage pass through these ditches to the Dragon Lake west of the village. After being treated biologically, the sewage water flows northwestward into the Wujiang River.
    At both ends of each lane stand watch towers hanging with plaques and couplets.
    In Liukeng, the Dong clan has eight branches, and each branch has its own ancestral hall.
    According to the ancient rites, the main ancestral hall of the clan was built in Bailanzhou north of the village. All other were built outside the village. With Wujiang and Dragon Lake as its moat, the village forms a closed defense system.
    The western part of the village is a business area and a commodities collection and distribution center.
    The layout of the village represents the rallying power of the clan. The seven east-west lanes directly leading to seven docks makes it very easy for the villagers to fetch water and allow the winds blowing over the river.