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Xidi Village has over 300 simple, yet graceful, Ming and Qing dynasty residences, of which 124 are well preserved. The village has been praised by foreign architects as containing some of the best preserved old-time houses and as being one of the most beautiful villages in the world. Typical structures in Xidi include a pailou to the residence of the Qing prefectural governor Hu Wenguang, the Taoli (peaches and plums) Garden, the Dafu Grand House (home of a senior official in feudal society).
Hongcun Village was originally laid out in the shape of an ox. The west end of the village, called Leigang Hill, resembles an ox head and that is where two huge trees stand like ox horns. At the front and rear of the village are four bridges that span a Jiyin stream and resemble four legs of the ox. The several hundred well-arranged houses form the body of the ox, and the 1,000-meter-long Jiyin stream that meanders through the village is regarded as its intestines. A crescent pond in the village is the ox‘s fourth stomach, and a larger South Lake is its reticulum, the second stomach. The villagers of Hongcun long ago designed this marvelous landscape.
On November 30, 2000, Xidi and Hongcun were chosen to be placed on the List of World Cultural Heritage sites by UNESCO.