MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2025
Honglin House is located in Xinhucun Village, Bandong Town, Minqing County. It was constructed over 28 years by the herbal medicine merchant Huang Zuobin during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty.
Originally, there were two large camphor trees planted at the same time as the construction of Honglin House, which have a history of more than 200 years. The large camphor tree on the left was washed away in the 2016 flood, while the one on the right was struck by lightning but has survived and is now a protected ancient tree on the official list.
In ancient times, people would plant trees before building houses. If the trees grew lush and green, it indicated that the land would be fertile for a good harvest and suitable for people to live and multiply. Another meaning of the camphor tree is that in the Minqing dialect, the pronunciation of “camphor”is the same as that of “general”, implying that the descendants of Honglin House would make great achievements.
