Huang Dezhan, current owner of Honglincuo, read an article in a newspaper titled "Ganxi - China's largest ancient folk residence" in November 1994. He then wrote a story to challenging the idea that Ganxi was the largest folk residence in China. He had strong arguments: as an ancient residential compound, Honglincuo occupies a larger area, and its architecture techniques are also more advanced. His claim attracted a battalion of scholars from Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Guangzhou to come to Honglincuo to do field research, who finally came to the conclusion that Honglincuo fully deserved the title of the 'largest' of ancient Chinese residences.

According to Huang Dezhan, current owner of Honglincuo, "the largest mansion south of the Yangtze River" located in Yueyang County of central-south China's Hunan Province covers an area of about 9,000 sq m. The Grand Courtyard of the Wangs and The Grand Courtyard of the Qiaos in North China's Shanxi Province consist of more than one compound. Yongding Round Earth Building also in Fujian Province covers an area of about 11,000 sq m, while Ganxi Residence in Nanjing, which was previously thought to be the largest, is about 14,000 sq m.

Besides its large scale, Honglincuo has much more to offer in its graceful and well-designed details.

 

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