The beautiful ancient village of Nanping in southwestern Yixian county, Anhui Province, has been a popular filming location for many Chinese movies and television. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

The 1990 film, starring famous actors Gong Li, Li Baotian and Li Wei, was about a tragic romance that occurred in the dye-house in the 1920s. A woman named Ju Dou played by Gong Li was forced to marry the brutal, impotent and impoverished owner of a dye mill in a rural village. As the third wife, she was repeatedly mistreated and cruelly disciplined by her husband, Jin-shan, for failing to bear him an heir. The heroine later had an affair with her husband's nephew and conceived a boy who eventually killed his biological father under the unbreakable feudal traditions.

Luminous Gong Li became more famous after "Ju Dou", and still shots of the film hang on the walls of the hall, showing the unsophisticated look of the international star in her early days.

Ancestral halls were places where big occasions such as clan meetings, celebrations and sacrificial offerings were held. Only men were allowed to enter the halls on a regular basis, while women could enter through a lower level only once during their lifetime - on their wedding day.

After centuries of change, Xuzhi Hall now stands empty. The housekeeper locked the door when we left. As it suddenly startted to rain, some villagers could be seen quickly carrying items into their houses. Clothing hung outside was protected from the rain by the eaves of the roofs.

We then stopped at another ancestral hall of the Ye clan, one of the best preserved halls of the Ming Dynasty and the filming site for Ang Lee's movie "Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon." Over a large fan-shaped screen inside the hall, we saw where actresses Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh fought in the movie.

Still photos show how the film was shot back then. Zhang Ziyi had tiny safety wire tied to her waist while she performed flying stunts over the bamboo forest with Chow Yun-fat.

Some old men chatting inside the building casually told us about when the movie was made a decade ago. They said they were pleased that the film had attracted many tourists and brought the villagers many tangible benefits.

The next stop, Bingling Pavilion, or Ice Slice Pavilion, was another beautiful old hall built about 200 years ago during the middle of the Qing Dynasty. Today it is a frequently visited inn in Nanping.

Peering out of the ancestral hall, I suddenly realized the other visitors had already moved on and I was left alone, lost in Nanping's maze of lanes.