Houses in She County in Anhui Province 

Small yard houses are also popular in the south. So-called Small Yards are, in fact, also open-air courtyards, but their area is smaller, since the southern regions are hot, rainy and wet, and there are many mountain areas and hills. The regions are densely populated but narrow in area, so residences pay attention to sunshine prevention and to ventilation as well as to fire-proofing.

The Lu's houses in Dongyang, Zhejiang Province

The layout is dense and teeming with bui1dings which, therefore, are mostly small yard houses. Their basic unit takes horizontal, long and square small yard as the core. Surrounded by buildings on all sides, or three sides-left, right and back-sunshine seldom comes in. The narrow and tall small yards play the role of breaking the wind and facilitate ventilation. The principal room faces the small yard and is completely open. All houses drain water out of the small yards, and geomancy calls this "four streams flowing into the hall", containing the meaning of preventing money from flowing out. Corbie gables often appear in the periphery, which is helpful to preventing thespread of fire.

Residence  of Huizhou

Corbie gable, also called fire-sealing gable, is a major molding characteristic of south Chinese architecture. The wall stands above the roof, and the Outline is in the setback type, varied and rich. The wall surface is plastered with lime powder, and the wall top is covered with gray tile wall eaves, so that the white wall and gray tile make it bright, plain and elegant. Small yard houses are most typical in southern Anhui and northern Jiangxi provinces and Huizhou Prefecture. The basic plane is in the "kou"or "er" shape; if a small yard is added behind the principal house, then the layout will become a "U" or "H" shape; or if buildings are added to the rear part of the back small yard, then the layout will be in the "ri" or "A" shape.