Lasting impressions: 10 beautiful film locations in China

Yunshuiyao Ancient Town & The Knot

Situated in Nanjing county, Zhangzhou, East China’s Fujian province, Yunshuiyao (original name Changjiao) Ancient Town has a long history and is one of the scenic spots of the world heritage site, the Fujian Tulou. There is a magnificent banyan tree group in the town consisting of 13 banyan trees, some of which are thousands of years old, including the province’s biggest banyan tree.

Yunshuiyao Ancient Town is renowned for its unique tulou clusters at the foot of the mountain. Fifty-three of these earthen buildings,which were first constructed in the mid Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), are still standing today and are in different shapes and styles. The town is also home to stilted buildings, bamboo pole buildings and mansion-style earthen buildings. In addition to being a world cultural heritage, the town is home to the Hegui Building, which is built on marshland and is called “the oddest structure in the world”, and the Huaiyuan Building, which is an exquisite and well-preserved double-ring earthen building.

In the film
The Knot《云水谣》(2006)
Director Yin Li
Starring Chen Kun, Li Bingbing,Vivian Hsu

The story starts in Taipei in the 1940s. Chen Qiushui (played by Chen Kun), a poor medical student at National Taiwan University, works as an English tutor in his spare time, teaching a boy from a wealthy household. He meets the boy’s elder sister Wang Biyun (played by Vivian Hsu) during his tutorage, and they fall in love. But Biyun’s mother, upon discovering their relationship, holds a dim view of their future and dismisses Qiushui on an excuse. Qiushui returns to his hometown in the countryside and finds a niche in a local granary. Biyun takes up the opportunity of an outdoor painting camp to travel all the way down to the village to find him. The lovelorn pair meet in the village under a century-old banyan tree in Yunshuiyao Ancient Town.They spend a happy time there before Qiushui is forced to leave Taiwan. Biyun waits for him for her whole life but they never reunite.