Preface
Brick by brick, grass and tree, people and things, the houses in the city, like square Chinese characters, write the vicissitudes of the city for a hundred years, and the great changes. They came together into a beautiful poem, a generous passage, the content of the text, the story that belonged exclusively to the house and its owner.
In the streets and alleys of Huangpu, there are many buildings with stories like this.
That room, that person, that thing, is the exclusive text that belongs to Huangpu.
In 1633, Xu Guangqi, a famous Shanghainese who has been recorded in history, died in Beijing, and eight years later, his coffin was transported back to Shanghai and buried in the north of Tushan Bay. Xu Guangqi's descendants also lived here for a long time, and this place also began to be called "Xujiahui". This land, which is integrated into Xu Guangqi's heroic spirit, has a different gene from before, and generations of Shanghainese have staged their life stories here.
Xu Guangqi was born in Taiqingfang, the south bank of Qiaojiabang, The south bank of Shanghai County, and for a considerable period of time thereafter, he lived in this building at No. 234 to No. 244 Qiaojia Road, which is Xu Guangqi's former residence, and people used to call his former residence "Nine Buildings", or "Nine Heads".
In fact, whether it is called "Nine Houses" or "Nine Heads", this is the customary shouting method of nearby residents to this building, not the official name, which cannot be found in the Ming and Qing County Records. Its real name is "Houletang". This building is the third and northernmost house of the Xu family's ancestral complex, and Xu Guangqi once lived in it.
Speaking of Xu Guangqi, we have to mention his contribution to the development of Xujiahui. An important starting point in the history of Xujiahui was in the 35th year of the Ming Dynasty (1607), when Xu Guangqi returned to this place and kept filial piety for his father Xu Sicheng for 3 years.
During the period of filial piety, Xu Guangqi built a farm in the south of Fahuajing and the west side of Zhaojiabang, that is, west of Xujiahui, which was located in the area of today's Hongqiao Road, Gongcheng Road, and Yishan North Road. There, he engaged in agricultural experiments, planting sweet potatoes, planting cotton, observing and summarizing, and writing high-quality agricultural works such as "Sweet Potato Thinning", "Turnip Thinning", "Jibei Thinning", "Planting Cotton Law" and "Illustration of Planting Bamboo in The Garden". The reason why Xu Guangqi was able to have many unique insights on the basis of miscellaneous collections is inseparable from his diligent and studious spirit of consulting and not being ashamed to ask questions, as well as his scientific attitude of breaking down stereotypes and personally experimenting.
In the past 3 years, Xu Guangqi not only participated in the "Measuring Instrument" in the "Zhou Jie Arithmetic Classic" and "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", and the Chinese and Western Huitong, and sorted it out, he also wrote "Measuring Similarities and Differences" and "Pythagorean Righteousness". As a result, Xu Guangqi and the missionaries who came to China began the process of "learning from the West and gradually from the East" in Xujiahui.
With the death of Xu Guangqi, the Nine Houses have also changed. In the 14th year of Chongzhen (1641), in order to commemorate Xu Guangqi, there was a archway built in the former county office front street, namely "Ge Lao Fang", because Xu Guangqi was a scholar of Wenyuan University in the Ming Dynasty, known as "Xu Gelao".
In addition, the Xu Wending Ancestral Hall was built in nine buildings. During the Chongzhen period, the Xu Guangqi Ancestral Hall (East Ancestral Hall) was built to commemorate Xu Guangqi. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, the Xu Clan Ancestral Hall (Xi Ancestral Hall) was built, and in the fourth year of the Qing Dynasty (1878), the two functions were exchanged, and the West Ancestral Hall was changed to Xu Guangqi Ancestral Hall (also known as "Ming Xiangguo Xu Wending Ancestral Hall"), referred to as "Xu Wending Ancestral Hall" and "Xu Gong Ancestral Hall", and the East Ancestral Hall was changed to Xu Clan Ancestral Hall as a place for Xu descendants to worship the ancestors.
What Xu Guangqi has learned in his life advocates practicality, but in fact, the study of ideas and spirits, that is, rational tolerance, patriotic spirit, scientific research pursuit, open-mindedness and integrity, has a profound impact on the formation of the later Shanghainese and the spirit of the city.
Reporter / Gao Lei
Editor / Sun Chaohui
Source / Shanghai Collection Association
Please indicate that the reprint is from the official WeChat of Shanghai Huangpu