Located in Xianju(仙居) County, Zhejiang Province, Gaoqian Ancient Village has managed to preserve the architectural features of the village in the Ming and Qing dynasties very well. It is a living fossil of ancient dwellings in southeastern Zhejiang Province.

The history of the village can be traced back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1174-1189). At that time, Wu Kuo (吴栝), the district magistrate of Anhua County (安化), and his younger brother Wu Chun (吴椿), a Supervising Secretary (从事郎), moved from Xiali to Gaoqian. They became the root ancestors of the eastern and western branch of Gaoqian Village. Wu Kuo and Wu Chun were themselves, the eleventh-generation of Wu Quanzhi, and their lineage derives from the Wu family at Xianju (仙居) in the genealogy. So, the story of the Wu family at Gaoqian starts from the Wu family at Xianju.

The root ancestor of the Xianju Wu family, Wu Quanzhi, courtesy name (字)[ A special name bestowed upon one person at adulthood in China and East Asian cultures, in addition to his or her given name. ] Jieshi (诘士), was a distinguished Jinshi (进士及第, ranked in the top three in the imperial examination), serving as an advisor as the grandly entitled Grand Master of the Palace with a silver seal and blue ribbon in Later Liang Dynasty (后梁银青光禄大夫). In 899 (Emperor Zhao of Tang Dynasty), Wu Quanzhi moved from Xianju to Xiali and became the root ancestor of the Xianju Wu family. Given Wu Quanzhi’s high social status and sophisticated educational attainments, the Xianju Wu family adopted education and literacy as a family tradition and the Wu family produced “many first-rank winners in the imperial examinations and high officials in government offices” (甲第相承，簪缨相继). In other words, the Wu family's cultural heritage together with outstanding results in the imperial examinations ensured the Wu family's unique social status.

Wu Fu (吴芾), the ninth generation of Wu Quanzhi, courtesy name Mingke (明可), also attained Jinshi Degree in the Southern Song Dynasty (1132). His cousins, Wu Qian (吴谦)and Wu Yong (吴永), were similarly successful in the imperial examination that year, helping to secure the Wu family's prominence at the time. During his lifetime of civil service, the highest rank of Wu Fu is Zhixueshi (直学士) of Longtu Ge (龙图阁). In his later years, he resigned from his official post and went back to his hometown, known as Hushan Jushi (湖山居士, a lay Buddhist by the lake and mountain). He died at 80, and was posthumously named Kang Su (康肃). The History of the Song Dynasty describes him as an official who had “zero tolerance of corruption” and “let people benefit from his work.” His writings were described as “robust and artistic.” Wu Fu was a typical traditional Chinese intellectual whose aim was to combine moral cultivation and the preservation of his cultural heritage, with loyalty and service to his country and people.

Wu Fu and Qin Kuai (秦桧, a minister in the Southern Song dynasty with an evil reputation) were old friends. However, after Qin Kuai established his dictatorship, while many officials fawned over him, Wu Fu maintained his distance. Qin Kuai asked, “Why are you are over stepping the mark here by not giving me due respect?” Wu Fu replied. “I cannot flatter or appease those who call themselves important, just to make myself pleasant”. This anecdote about Wu Fu and Qin Kuai was repeatedly included in the Xianju County Records, to indicate his high moral character and intense self-conscious sense of principle. Wu Fu lived at a time when half of the country was lost to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty, and the country was partially at peace. Although Wu Fu actively advocated the Northern Expedition, he did not have necessary supports to fulfill his goals. After Wu Fu's death, Zhu Xi (朱熹, famous Song philosopher) made a Shinto monument to honor him, praising him as “a great man of his time,” but also saying that “in his later years, because of his unyielding character, he was not able to fulfill his ambition and retreated to the mountains for more than ten years.”

Nevertheless, the experience of Wu Fu reflects the resilience of Chinese cultural traditions. As a kind of soft power, moral probity and cultural sophistication can compensate for the limitations of objective circumstances and material conditions. It is this cultural tradition that the Wu family of Xianju relied on to move forward. In a traditional society where farming and reading were equally valued, the family ethos based on morality and cultural self-awareness enabled the Xianju Wu family to continue to prosper and grow in numbers, gradually spreading to the surrounding areas. The Gaoqian Wu family was one of these extending branches. In 1936, Minshi Primary School was established as a new style of school in Gaoqian. In 1931, Wu Jin Yi, a landowner in Gaoqian, founded Yuxiu Primary School, which was merged with Minshi Primary School to form Xianju County Rural Yuxiu Primary School in 1938, and renamed Gaoqian Primary School after the founding of New China. Although the form of the school and the content of the education changed, the reward system that was used to encourage children to study remained in place for a long time, with different levels of reward for primary, middle and high school graduates. It is worth noting that the rewards for graduates of the new-style schools were not gender-specific, showing notable progressiveness.

Wu Fu’s cousin, Wu Qin(吴芹), failed in the imperial examinations and so turned to the mountains with the intention of enriching the family business, but he died before he could achieve anything. His wife, Madame Ye, lived on as a widow for twenty-seven years, raising her son, running the family business and accumulating a certain amount of wealth in the process. As the family's wealth grew, Ye was widely praised in the village for her kindness and charity. She made public service an important means of maintaining the family's status and reputation, and admonished her son to ‘do good deeds to protect the family'. After Ye's death, Wu Fu wrote an epitaph for her, explaining that the reason she could not be buried with her husband was that Wu Qin's burial plot was ‘too narrow'. This is a clear indication that the Wu family's numbers were multiplying in the area so that the land was becoming inadequate to support them all. About twenty years after Ye's death, two of Wu Qin's grandsons, Wu Jun and Wu Chun, moved to Gaoqian.

The village formed by the Wu family in Gaoqian - the present-day Gaoqian village - is a typical bloodline settlement. The existing village pattern of Gaoqian was laid down between the Qianlong(乾隆) and Xianfeng(咸丰) periods of the Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, Gaoqian belonged to Gaoqianli Shiliu Du(高迁里十六都)，Gaoqianzhuang(高迁庄) of Kaiyuan Township, Xianju County. In 1948, Gaoqian and Houren merged to form Zhongke Township, but after the founding of New China in 1948, the two separate townships were restored. In 1958, Gaoqian People's Commune was established but renamed Baita People's Commune in 1961. In 1984, Baita People's Commune became Baita Township, and in 1985, Baita was approved as a municipal town, with Gaoqian as its natural village.

The Gaoqian Wu family continued the tradition of the Xianju Wu family, attaching great importance to culture and education. Wu Jun, the ancestor of the Gaoqian Wu family in its eastern branch, had six sons, three of whom were successful in the imperial examinations. Wu Chun, the ancestor of the family’s western branch, had two sons, both of whom were successful in the examinations. In the following generations, there were many others who were successful in this way, becoming officials of high ranks or being honored as scholars. These family members became the link between the family and the state. They acted as role models in the family and were the figures other family members looked up to and tried to imitate. In local life, they were the presiding administrators or bearers of public office, who defended the public interest; in national politics, they ran the state apparatus, serving the people. The role played by these elite figures, enabled Gaoqian, a remote and inaccessible village, to be linked and bonded with the politics and civilization of the country as a whole. And it is because of countless clans like the Gao Qian Wu family, scattered across the mountains, riversides and fields, consciously upholding the moral requirements of traditional Chinese society of hard work and courage, frugality and kindness, and the ideology of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trust, that Chinese culture and morality have continued unabated, and that China's territorial and political unity has been consolidated.

Of course, in modern times, with the abolition of the imperial examination system, Chinese social and economic structure has undergone a fundamental transformation. The order that combined the achievements of the imperial examination with cultural heritage has been demolished. The children of the Gaoqian Wu family have had to find alternative paths for making their way. As the times changed, traditional families that had been “tilling and reading” were transformed into modern citizens, becoming successful in the fields of politics, the military, academia or economic construction.

From the Song and Yuan dynasties through the Ming and Qing dynasties and on into the modern era, after a thousand years, the link between generations of Wu descendants and their ancestors has been formed, not only through genealogical ties of kinship, but more importantly, from the spiritual lifeline of the family. Everything changes and nothing changes. “The good influence of men of virtue will not last more than five generations.” The transition between wealth and poverty is only a few generations away. The rich are benevolent, but not arrogant; the poor are diligent and thrifty, but not flattering. The gentleness of one family will exert a good influence on the whole community. Family values have been passed down through poetry and books, filial piety, friendship and benevolence, and loyalty and courage continue to serve the country. Therefore, no matter whether one is in high office, farming, or engaging in business and commerce, all can be “in their proper positions”