About 2,000 people of a whole village is living under the same ancient roof in Dajipu Township in Daye, a city in central China's Hubei Province.

The building in Shuinanwan, which dates back to the Ming Dynasty, has been sheltering about 400 families for years and is still in good condition, said Ke Xiaojie, an associate researcher with Daye culture institute.

The ancestors spent about 13 years building the house in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), about 360 years ago, according to the villagers.

All the buildings in the village were joined together, but also built independently - in other words "villagers would not get their shoes drenched when visiting each other in rainy days," Ke said.

The house boasts delicate stone, wood and brick carvings with traditional patterns of flowers, birds and legendary Taoist immortals.

Even the drain pipe ends were decorated with carp head stone carvings so that the waste water would flow through the mouths of the fish into the drainage tunnels.

Local experts are mapping out plans to protect and develop the ancient building.