There is a large overseas Chinese mansion in the southeast corner of Xianditou Village, Longdu Town, Chenghai, called "Mingde Jiashu", which is the famous Xu Fucheng Batch Bureau, and literary and historical research has determined that it is currently the most complete preservation, the largest architectural scale and the most exquisite architectural art in Chenghai. Recently, in order to write a special edition of "Chaoshan Overseas Chinese Residence", the author has tirelessly walked into Xianditou Village several times, approached the owners of Mingde Jiashu, visited local insiders, excavated many little-known stories behind the construction of Mingde Jiajue, and once again felt the chaoshan overseas Chinese who dared to be the first, pioneering and enterprising, and not forgetting the fundamental feelings of home and country under the changing situation and the change of the times.
Overseas Chinese house exploration
The combination of East and West mansions comes from two gangs of gray workers in Longdu
Mingde Family School was planned and built by the overseas Chinese Xu Ruoming and Xu Ruode brothers in the 1930s. The mansion covers an area of 6 acres, with a construction area of more than 2900 square meters, and a total of 128 halls inside and outside.
From the stone inscription behind the door plaque of the gatehouse, I remember that the Xu family brothers were carefully planned and designed in Thailand, and then built by Xu Ruode to his hometown to supervise. The project was built by two gray workers, The Gaocuo House in Longdu and Deng Cuo And deng da, who was also the ash foreman who undertook to build the good house of Chen Cidi's former residence. During the construction of Mingde Family School, in addition to bringing local workers, Deng Da also invited a large group of skilled craftsmen from Chenghai and Chaoyang to make jacaranda trees, carved birds, and danchas paintings for the family school.
▲The decoration of the roof can be seen in seiko's intentions
Now from a bird's-eye view from the air, the mansion is a large-scale building with a combination of Chinese and Western four-point gold double-backed sword belt. Four small buildings were built outside the four corners of the mansion, namely: ruyi gate in the east corner of the four sandals and three rooms, one-room warehouse in the south corner, brick house in the west corner, and stove room in the north corner. The owner of the house uses the idea of the five elements living in harmony with each other, first giving the 4 small houses different functions, and then supplementing the orientation of the main seat, so that the yin and yang inside and outside the mansion are balanced and stable. This is a very exquisite link for hipsters to build houses and buy houses, and it is also the infiltration of traditional Chinese culture.
▲Overlooking Matilda Home School
The main seat of the mansion is a six-to-five-room four-point gold four-square western-style building structure, plus eight-and-one seven-room double-back sword western-style western-style building, and the back package is twelve-to-eleven-room type descending mountain tiger rear-style western-style one-room one-off tiger rear-style western-style two-back sword-style two-back sword-style western-style one-room two-footed tiger rear-style western-style one-room two-footed tiger rear-style western-style one-room There are several such "four-point gold" four-square Western-style buildings in Longdu during the Republic of China period, such as LiqingJiashu in Zhaitou Village, Sifang Building in Longmei Village, Guangshunnei in Houxi Village, and "Aberdeen" in Houpu Village. The architectural pattern of the four-square Western-style building that combines Chinese and Western style appeared earlier in the overseas Chinese mansion in Malaysia, and the owner of the Penang Blue House, Cheung Bi-shek, can be described as the first, and the Rong Lu Di he built in 1897 is a masterpiece. The Four-Square Western-style Building is composed of a Hakka four-sided enclosure and a Chaopai four-point gold composite main structure, and then combined with various styles of Western Roman columns. Since then, this pattern has spread to the Chinatowns in Southeast Asia, and then introduced to the Chaoshan overseas Chinese residences, forming a popular architectural style.
▲The internal structure is very compact
The façade of the house is decorated with Baroque arches and Ionic Roman columns, showing the majesty of the arches of the tall buildings, and full of the femininity of Ionic, complex but exquisite, very fascinating. The four characters of the stone gate plaque list book "Mingde Jiajuku" are from the hand of Zhu Ruzhen, the last list eye, and the payment is Xin Weinian (1931). The two wings of the Sun and Grandson Gate originally had their own lists and later peeled off and blurred, and the east gate list was written with "Ming Dao" and the west side was written with "Demen". The list books of the big and small gatehouses all contain puns, which not only contain the name of Xu Jiakunzhong, but also instruct their descendants to understand the truth, abide by morality, take the right path, and establish a thousand fame.
▲The last list eye Zhu Ruzhen left ink "Mingde Jiajuku"
From the Descendant Gate back to the central axis of The Great Cheng, looking up, there are many inlaid porcelain paintings on the horse-faced wall and the front wall of the gatehouse. The phoenix peony figure in the east is also inlaid with red plum primrose and magpie newspaper peace, this picture uses phoenix and peony to symbolize the prosperity of all things, the harmony of husband and wife, a beautiful future, and the blossoming of wealth; the peacock figure in the west, with the peacock symbolizing auspiciousness, a bright future, and a white head and old age. This shows the original intention of the Xu family brothers to build a large mansion and their hopes for their children and grandchildren.
▲The horse-faced wall of the gatehouse is inlaid with porcelain "Peacock Diagram"
Stucco "plastic talk" is the unique cultural feelings of the hipsters
Stepping into the mansion, you will see that all the doors and windows are carved with different types of lightstands, lintels, and lintels. On the lintels of the two rooms on the second floor, two more interesting "golden ash piles" can be seen: the east lintel is a scroll with a standing jade plaque, and two bats fly towards a furious peony flower, the peony symbolizes glory, the bat represents the blessing, from this painting, its meaning is glory and wealth, pavilion and jade; on the west door is a scroll with a pair of red candles, a red flower and a mouse, and there are some grapes below, the red flowers represent red fire, and the rat is the son in the chinese zodiac. The grapes are sour, the harmonic sun, and the candles are fire energy, so the painting means that the descendants are prosperous and red.
The four leaks in the cornices of the large patio (commonly known as the leaking mother) are shaped with two large pomegranates, a large chayote and a peony flower. What is the moral of all this? Originally, pomegranates have many seeds, symbolizing many descendants, two pomegranates facing each other also symbolizes the flow of the two worlds (durian) fang, peonies symbolize glory and wealth, and bergamots represent the longevity of happiness. These gray sculptures, each of which is a story, has a long rhyme and makes people linger. From the signature, it can be seen that these gray sculptures are the masterpieces of Wang Yunquan and Zhu Yunchen, the master mural masters of Chenghai at that time.
Counting carefully, there are 140 gray sculptures in the whole house, each with a different content, including a Chinese-style "play out" lampstand, a Western animal sketch, and a book landscape. Although many gray sculptures and paintings have lost their color and eclipsed the scenery in the wind and sand of history, they still show that the owner is not limited to the shape of ancient Chinese architecture and boldly integrates Western cultural elements. It is worth mentioning that among the gray sculptures on the first floor of the back bag, there are two paintings facing the two descendants of the alley doors, which create portraits of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek respectively, implying the meaning of entry and respect. The mural of the whole mansion is like a grand view garden of world culture, which uses stucco to "sculpt" the cultural feelings of the hipsters who are full of rivers and adhere to themselves.
▲ The window lintel "plays out" the light cabinet
An architectural example of the "Dacuo Shuzhai "Dacuo Shuzhai "
"Rise from the big house, and go to the book", this is a widely spread Chaoshan saying. The "亘" here has a connected meaning, and it is more of a leading meaning. In the old days, rich and large families, ancestors or descendants did not have a meritorious name, there was no name to "start the head of the gate building". Therefore, when building a large mansion, it is necessary to enclose the outer wall, and then build a study with a garden, which is accessed by the door of the study. In this way, it conforms to the Confucian way of moderation, and sets off the lofty and profound courtyard, gorgeous and elegant, and of course has the practical function of preventing theft and flood control. Matilda's home school is an architectural example of the "Dacuo Shuzhai" and the "complete version" that I have seen for the first time in many years when I visit the old mansion.
According to reports, in the past, the wall in front of the Door of The Mingde Family School did not open the gate, leaving only a small door for the idle people to enter and exit, and the big people came and went, wedding and funeral celebration routes, all of which took the front Cheng Ruyi Gate and passed through the Shuzhai Garden to the outside world.
The study of Mingde Jiashu is called "Liang Lu", named after Xu Ruoming's big name "Fu Liang", for the children and grandchildren of the Xu family to study, and the children of Xu Fucheng Bureau employees can also study here. In the old days, the garden in front of the study was planted with various flowers and trees, and the study and the garden were dotted with each other, which did have the atmosphere of a scholarly family. Among them, there are two lotus mist and "red hair pear", known as "Fanzai Tree", which are fruit trees brought by the old owner from Thailand, with the intention of allowing future generations to eat sweet fruits, not forgetting the relatives who have worked hard in Fanpan. After the fruit trees were planted, every time the overseas Chinese in Thailand returned home, they would bring colorful silk ribbons and prayerfully wrap them around the trunk of the lotus mist tree, called "crowning". To this day, the lotus mist tree is still lush and dense, and the third and fourth generations of house owners will surround the fruit trees with colorful silk every year according to Thai customs every year to commemorate the ancestors of the "blue wisps of the road to open up the mountain forest".
▲ Xu Ruode's granddaughter-in-law told the story of the crowning of the "Fanzai Tree"
Overseas Chinese stories
The mansion sits northwest to the southeast for a reason
Visiting the Mingde family school, he met the owner Xu Xuling and Xu Hao's aunt and nephew. Xu Xuling is the granddaughter of Xu Liyou of the Wanxingchang Bureau, the granddaughter-in-law of Xu Ruode, and Xu Hao is the great-grandson of Xu Ruode. They are the third and fourth generation of homeowners, know a lot about family history, and chat about some stories of old homeowners when they accompanied them.
The old master Xu Ruoming (also known as Fu Liang) was born in the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872) and grew up in a poor family. In the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), the Longdu Stone Buddha Causeway collapsed, the water was fierce, and many houses in the southeast of Longdu were facing southwest because they sat in the northeast, and the water first broke through the gate and then washed down the back wall of the house, with the result that people and animals were injured and injured, and the furniture was washed away. Ruoming's father, Xu Xingwan, was killed in this flood, leaving behind his wife and Ruoming brothers and sisters, leaving behind 80 oceans of living debts. "Poor children have long been in charge", 18-year-old Xu Ruoming was forced to go down to Nanyang alone to earn a living, starting as a small kitchen worker in a restaurant, sending all his salary to his mother to support his family every month. After a little stability, he brought his younger brother Xu Ruode (also known as Fusheng) to Thailand to start a business together, first running Xu Mingsheng Gauze Shop in Sanping Street, and then founding Xu Mingfa Banking and Letter Bureau, Mingyu Xinghuo, Shantou Fucheng Zhuang and other businesses. Shantou Fuchengzhuang set up an overseas Chinese approval delivery station in Mingde Jiashu, and sent the approval number and the approval letter of the Shantou Xiechengxing, Zhong Rongshun, Yifa and Wanfengfa Approval Bureaus. For this reason, Matilda's school is also called Fukusei.
After their founding, the Xu brothers did not forget to return home to build a house to support their families. The brothers did not forget the grief caused by the collapse of the stone Buddha embankment to the family, so they designed the new building to sit in the northwest and face the southeast, and if the embankment was flooded, the strong and tall back wall could be "blocked".
The mansion avoids the frontal impact of the flood, but the gate is facing the two deserts from Tanqian Village to Wangcuowei, and from the window on the second floor, it is a deserted tomb, which is not very elegant. Therefore, the builders used glass gossip mirrors to block the line of sight in this direction, so that the people sitting idly in the roof hall of the gate building and drinking tea did not lose their yaxing.
Xu Ruoming's family has opened up a "lifeline" for overseas Chinese relatives in many ways
According to the "Longdu Overseas Chinese Chronicle" published in 2013, from 1906 to 1956, Longdu Town had 11 batch libraries, all of which were delivery bureaus, and the delivery scope was Chenghai, Raoping and Chao'an. Xu Ruoming's Xu Fucheng Batch Bureau is one of the most famous.
Xu Ruoming and Xu Ruode brothers have the courage to open up, stand on integrity, innovate far-reaching, and are trusted and praised by Chinese and overseas Chinese compatriots from all walks of life.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the maritime convergence road was interrupted, and the banking and credit bureaus in Bangkok and Shantou were also suspended. The vast number of overseas Chinese dependents in China who have been relying on the approval of silver for many years are in dire straits. To this end, patriotic overseas Chinese in Bangkok have been looking for ways to transfer overseas Chinese to save millions of overseas Chinese from fire and water.
According to the book "Southeast Asian Chinese and Overseas Chinese" compiled by Xu Maochun, a Thai overseas Chinese in Longdu, the Xu Ruoming family opened a secret passage under this specific circumstance and brought overseas Chinese back to Chaoshan by land from Bangkok. The book reads: After the outbreak of the war that year, the silver letter could not be sent normally, and the Thai Xu Mingfa Silver Letter Bureau continued to collect overseas Chinese approvals and exchanged the silver for gold bars. Ruoming's son, Xu Yusheng, hired a team of right-hand men and bodyguards, personally carried gold bars, set off from Bangkok, crossed the Mekong River, crossed the Lao Mountains to Hanoi, Vietnam, and exchanged the gold for national currency. Then drive to Haiphong, transfer to Mong Street, enter Dongxing Town, Guangxi, China, hand over the batch of silver to the domestic joint number, and Xu Yusheng originally turned back to Bangkok. Subsequently, the overseas Chinese batch was transferred from Dongxing via Shaoguan-Xingning-Jieyang-Shantou to Xufucheng Batch Bureau in Longdu. This is a "lifeline" for overseas Chinese dependents opened by Xu Mingfa Banking and Letter Bureau at the risk of his life!
▲During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, overseas Chinese were generally packaged for physical remnants
On the day of the interview, Xu Hao turned out from his home the physical remnants of the general package of overseas Chinese during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression; Zou Jinsheng Zhesi, the "King of Overseas Chinese Criticism" who accompanied him, and Zou Xiaodong, a special researcher in the history of the Chenghai District CPPCC Committee, were given the treasure, and he told this writer that this was the physical evidence of the "Shayu Chung Postal Road," one of the international secret postal routes between the Guangdong Postal District and Hong Kong during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and it was very precious. It can be seen from the physical object that the Xu Ruoming family sent the overseas Chinese batch of the Thai Siam Thai Capital Tai Xing Yu Xin Bureau, from Thai Kyung, to the overseas Chinese wholesale contract through Hong Kong to Sand Fish Bay, and then transported from Xingning to Shantou for delivery. This is a relatively special but serious route, and this physical object is an excellent source material for studying the postal history of Sand Fish Bay. It can be seen that at that time, in order to break through the blockade of the Japanese and Kosovo, the overseas Chinese approval bureaus of Southeast Asian countries not only took the Dongxing Postal Road, but also took the Shayu Chung Postal Route, went through arduous efforts to open up the road of overseas Chinese remittances, guaranteed the business of overseas Chinese approval, and supported the motherland's anti-Japanese salvation movement with practical actions.
According to Wu Renping, a 90-year-old overseas Chinese compatriot in Thailand, and Zhang Hanchi, executive director of the Raoping Hometown Association of Thailand, once dictated that from 1942 to 1943, when the sea transport line was interrupted and Chaoshan encountered a great famine, many young people wanted to go to Nanyang to survive, but they could not go. At that time, according to the route and station of overseas Chinese approval, the XuFucheng Batch Bureau organized the batch of feet to lead the way and delivered a group of young people in Andu and its surroundings to Thailand. The Qiangou Wu Jingyi and Jingliu brothers, with the help of Xu Fucheng's Batch Bureau, went from Longdu via Chao'an to Jieyang Shangke District, turned to Shaoguan and then went down to Guangxi, assembled in Dongxing, and then brought into Vietnam by the joint number or indigenous people, and entered from northeast Thailand through Laos to Bangkok. Thousands of kilometers of journey, they walked for more than 8 months, through hardships to reach their destination, to start a new journey in life.
Source: Shantou Daily
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