Having said so much about Mr. Du's jianghu affairs, many people are very interested in the Du men du mansion that is comparable to the "Chunshen Gate", today, we might as well see what the mysterious Du mansion looks like.
In Shanghai, there are several old mansions that claim to have "Du Yuesheng's Old Residence", but only two are truly widely recognized – one is the Du Mansion in Lane 188, Ninghai West Road (formerly No. 180 Hua Ge Zhen Road), and the other is the old mansion at No. 70 Donghu Road (now the Donghu Hotel).
(Former Du Mansion Building No. 2)
Founded in 1926, the Du Mansion on Hua Ge Wei Road is a three-entry villa with an area of more than 1,000 square meters.
In 1924, Du Yuesheng had already become famous under Jin Rong, and his wings were gradually enriched. Under the mediation of Jin Jinrong and Lin Guisheng, Du Yuesheng married the small family Jasper Shen Yueying, and also received a house donated by Jin Jinrong.
This mansion witnessed the rise of Du Yuesheng, and Du Yuesheng's first three wives lived in it. Next door to it, a similar villa is Zhang Xiaolin's Zhang Mansion. Later, after Zhang Xiaolin was killed, Du Yuesheng was afraid of touching the scene and had feelings, so he never came back to live.
In addition to a very eye-catching "Yu Qingtang" plaque hanging in the Du Mansion, there is also a huge portrait of Du Yuesheng dressed in a military uniform.
Inside the mansion, there is a very private calligraphy and painting room, and no one else enters it, which is a space that Du Yuesheng uses to meditate alone. There is also a special study room next to the living room, which is the place where Du Yuesheng practices his self-cultivation every day.
The living room of the entire Du Mansion is extremely luxurious, and all the decoration materials in the hall on the first floor are given to her by Jin Rong, which also includes a Nan wood carved beam with a length of 12 meters and a width of 1 meter.
In the 1990s, due to the needs of urban construction, the Du Mansion was about to face demolition. There is a Chinese-Canadian Huang Xiuzhi, because of his admiration for Du Yuesheng, he bought the Du Mansion at three times the high price, and found an ancient building protection expert from Tongji University to dismantle all the bricks and tiles of the Du Mansion, and all the objects were numbered one by one, waiting for the opportunity to rebuild, and these old things were stored in a warehouse in Tongli for careful protection.
Later, Jiading planned to build the Xiyunlou Haipai Cultural and Leisure Street, and Mr. Huang Lao agreed to rebuild the Du Mansion.
Although all the objects of the Du Mansion have been properly preserved and numbered by professionals, the restoration of the Du Mansion is still very difficult. In order to be highly restored, the builders deliberately went to the United States to find Du Weishan, the son of Du Yuesheng, and asked him to recall the structure of the Du Mansion. After the completion, Du Yuesheng and Yao Yulan's daughter Du Meiru came to visit, and in the face of the "homeland" that had been separated for decades, she shed tears and was excited several times.
The reconstructed Du Mansion still retains the red door that it once had, and after decades, it has lost its former arrogance and ostentation, and the wood is covered with cracks. But that's what makes people feel so real. History is like a big wave of sand, and the traces of the past make people have a sense of the vicissitudes of the times
Stepping into the hall, we can not only see the rich nanmu beam sent by Boss Huang, but also the couplet written by Rao Hanxiang, deputy secretary general of the Vice Presidential Office, "Three thousand guests under the Chunshen Gate, five feet south of Xiaodu City" is in the hall, which is very eye-catching.
Twenty years of living day and night, even though the owner is gone, the house still retains many traces of its former owner.
In the past, whenever a guest came to visit Du Yuesheng at the Du Mansion, he would stand at the corner of the second floor and observe for a moment. This is the caution and care left by Du Yuesheng's decades of hard work. The handrail in this corner left traces because of Du Yuesheng's habitual play.
Stepping into the second floor, it is another luxurious scene.
The characters who could be brought to the upstairs council chamber by Du Yuesheng were all close friends with Du Yuesheng, trusted confidants and respected celebrities from all walks of life.
This is no longer Du Yuesheng's residence, this is du Yuesheng's conspiracy in Shanghai to turn his hand over the clouds and cover his hands for rain, it is the place where he and Zhang Taiyan and other literary celebrities drink tea and discuss the Tao, and it is also the place where he and Dai Kasa discuss anti-Japanese strategies and a sentence may decide a person's life or death...
I have to say that there is also a huge portrait in the council chamber, this painting is called "The First Church under heaven".
The author of this painting is Wu Ruilong, a Shanghai realist painter.
In 1931, the Du Family Ancestral Hall was completed, and the general secretary of the ceremony was Yu Qiaqing, the president of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce at the time, who found many famous Peking opera artists in China to cheer for Du Yuesheng.
In 1947, on the day of Du Yuesheng's 60th birthday, Du Yuesheng organized a performance at the Chinese Grand Theater in the name of running a birthday and performed for a full 10 days.
Mei Lanfang sang 8 finale performances, and his ex-wife Meng Xiaodong has been in a relationship with Du Yuesheng, farewell to the stage for a long time Meng Xiaodong on the stage to perform twice, Shanghai ten thousand empty alleys, this is Meng Xiaodong's last time on stage in his life.
Wu Ruilong painted this portrait based on these two performances, and the portraits include Du Yuesheng, Yao Yulan, Meng Xiaodong, Yu Qiaqing, Yang Du, Mei Lanfang and so on...
This is Du Yuesheng's Ten Mile Ocean Farm, where he lived for 20 years. If it were not for Mr. Huang Lao's insistence on leaving it to the world, it might have been difficult for us to meet it.
(Du Rumei pointed out that this is her girlhood in the painting)
Although the mansion at No. 70 Donghu Road was once a property under Du Yuesheng's name, Du Yuesheng did not live here for a day.
That year, Song Ziwen planned to issue "aviation lottery tickets", and Du Yuesheng agreed that he would handle it. Du Yuesheng gave this opportunity to make a fortune to his friend Jin Yansun.
Jin Yansun was very grateful to Du Yuesheng, and after making a lot of money, he spent 300,000 yuan to build this luxurious mansion for Du Yuesheng.
It is said that this mansion is full of French furniture, and the garden has created the mood of the small bridge flowing water in the Jiangnan garden, and it is also in the west and The Jin Yansun spent a lot of thought when it was built.
Du Yuesheng was very satisfied with the new house at first, and he had even arranged which room several wives lived in. But it is said that later he went to the feng shui master to take a look and said that the house was not conducive to family harmony. At that time, Mr. Du, who was already in a mess with several wives, was really unwilling to spend any more effort to resolve family disputes, so he did not live in it for a day.
However, this house was not completely wasted, and later Du Yuesheng left Shanghai for Hong Kong, dragging a family and a few disciples who were loyal to him, and all the expenses of all people did not add up to a small expense.
Du Yuesheng sold the mansion to the press office of the US consulate, from Du Yuesheng to Hong Kong until his death, all the expenses in the family came from the money from the sale of this house, it seems that Jin Yansun's house was still worth it.
Du Yuesheng can make money, but Du Yuesheng does not leave money. Such a huge industry can only stay in Shanghai, which was once in the limelight.
Du Yuesheng's traces, yellow gambling and poison are all stained, and there are many charities to save the country. Now his story is also like this mansion, the patchwork and reconstruction of posterity, in vain, but it is difficult to find the swinging intestines in the rivers and lakes of that year.