Dried bamboo shoots are cooked with pork there. [Photo by Hu Yongqi/China Daily]

Next to the hotel is a summer house. Inside the two-story house are wooden staircases.

In the public space on the second floor is a small library where a wooden table is set with writing brushes, ink, paper and ink slabs.

The wooden structure demonstrates the carving technique of the area's artists with every window sporting carvings of animals, rocks and trees.

In the Hongcun ancient village, a water body connects every house and hotel.

Water flows through the village and visitors can see locals washing vegetables in it or fishing.

Tourist guides explain that the water body was designed around 400 years ago by the village's founders.

Meanwhile, along the Nanhu Lake in Hongcun, art students make sketches of the water mirroring the houses, the sky and the trees. Even in black and white, their drawings attract visitors who stop to admire them.

As a child, my father told me about the village from where my family moved to Anqing.

So, I have always wanted to see the ancient architecture and learn about the local customs.

This visit had made my dream come true.