Phoenix rising — Tujia stilt houses on the Tuojiang river
Fenghuang Ancient Town (Phoenix City) in Hunan province is one of China's best-preserved Ming and Qing dynasty streetscapes, where Tujia wooden stilt houses hang dramatically over the green Tuojiang River and red lanterns reflect in the water at dusk. The town is the birthplace of Chinese novelist Shen Congwen, whose writing brought Fenghuang to national attention, and the surrounding mountains are home to Miao villages famous for silver jewellery and embroidered costumes.
Fenghuang was established as a military garrison town in the early Qing dynasty (1704) to control the border between Han China and the Miao and Tujia hill peoples of western Hunan. The town walls, watchtowers, and ancient streets survived largely intact through the 20th century because the area remained isolated until road construction in the 1990s. Author Shen Congwen (1902–1988), born here, portrayed the town in his novel 'Border Town' and is buried on the riverbank opposite the old city wall.