Shanxian Underground Courtyard in Sanmenxia, distinctive and unique

The Shanxian Underground Courtyard, located in Beiyin Village, Zhangbian Township, Shanxian District, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, is an ancient and magical residential style. Rich in culture, it is the only underground ancient residential architecture in the country and even the world, known as 'the ancient village beneath the horizon, a living fossil in the history of residential buildings,' and is one of the four unique ancient residential architectures in China. 'Seeing trees but no village, entering the village but not seeing houses, entering a home but not seeing doors, hearing sounds but not seeing people' is its true portrayal. The Dikeng Cultural Park mainly consists of 22 interconnected underground courtyards, each with different themes, comprehensively displaying the historical evolution of the underground courtyards and the lifestyle and folk skills of the people in the Shanxian region. At the same time, the scenic area also preserves many undeveloped underground courtyards for tourists to visit, searching for the lost underground ancient villages along the loess of Shan Plateau, allowing the traditional culture of the underground courtyards to be passed down for a long time. The folk performances and intangible cultural heritage displays in the courtyard, such as grass beating and printing, Shanxian paper-cutting, gong and drum books, Chengni inkstones, puppet shows, shadow puppetry, sugar painting, red song performances, and Shanxian special wedding customs performances, are highly interactive and rich in culture, and have been well received by tourists since the opening.