The front of the Kui House on the previous Ancient Tea House Road in Lufeng County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan. (Photo/ Lin Jian)

Laoyaguan Gateway shares a border with Lubiao Town of Anning and Tuguan Town in Lufeng County, Yunnan Province. It was the first pass on the western route of the the Ancient Tea Horse Road.

In this fall, the fields are full of golden grains. Farmers are busy harvesting. Walking along a tributary of the ancient road, people are likely to see a discarded stone bridge in the weeds. Carvings which looked delicate on the piers of the bridge are faintly discernable.

Seen forward, a used house of the Laoyaguan Gateway lies right near the bridge.

The house was given a name: Kuilou or Kui House. It is a symbolic representation of traditional Chinese Taoism culture on the architecture, since Lufeng in Chuxiong prefecture has helped spread the Taoism. The house, almost in ruins, is possible to fall while the door is locked with a rusty caribiner.

An aged farmer said that villagers paid tribute to and worshiped a taoism god whose statue, malicious-looking, is about eight feet high in the house. The house was once damaged in the Chinese Cultural Revolution (from 1966 to 1976) after which two glittering dragon sculptures on the roof were fading and disappearing.

The farmer said the house was built at least one hundred years ago. But it can not be proofed by historical documents now.

The house is of great importance to the Ancient Tea Horse Road connecting Kunming, the capital of the province, and Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture. It is expected that its previous glorious look can be reoccurred, rather than being swallowed in the gradual ubiquitousness of modern concrete buildings.

The house is in ruins now. (Photo/ Lin Jian)

The north side of the house(Photo/ Lin Jian)

The carvings on the wooden beam shows its previous prosperity. (Photo/ Lin Jian)

The house is locked by a rusty caribiner. (Photo/ Lin Jian)

(Editors:Lynn, Cathy)

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