In the downtown area of Xueqian Street in Wuxi, there is a mansion covering an area of more than 20,000 square meters - the former residence of Xue Fucheng, which is the large Qinzhi Mansion of Xue Fucheng, a famous thinker, diplomat, political commentator, writer and representative figure of the early bourgeois restoration faction in china at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Xue Fucheng was born in 1838, a bourgeois reformist thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, and a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. He was good at thinking, diligent in writing, brave in practice, and made extraordinary achievements in domestic and foreign affairs, for which the Qing court specially gave the "First Qin Envoy" to praise his historical merits.
Statue of Xue Fucheng
Xue Fucheng's former residence, also known as Qin EnvoyDi, was built in 1890 (the sixteenth year of Qing Guangxu) to 1894 (Guangxu twenty years), the existing original buildings of more than 100 rooms, covering an area of more than 21,000 square meters, its scale, the fine structure, the preservation of the integrity, in Jiangsu late Qing bureaucratic residences is really rare. In 2001, Xue Fucheng's former residence complex was promulgated by the State Council as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
Above the forehead of the door hangs a gold edge of flowers, and the gold characters on a blue background are "Chin-chan Di" on one side of the vertical plaque.
The three rooms in the middle are called "Xiyuantang". It is a carriage ridden by ancient envoys, and the "Xiyuantang" is a metaphor for the master Xue Fucheng's mission to the four western countries. From east to west, there are a total of nine houses, which makes people feel the grand scale of "Chin's Envoy".
Inside the "Wu Ben Tang", the girder and the two ends of the ridge are decorated with mountain mist clouds, and the carving is intricate.
In the middle of the main hall hangs a huge plaque with the words "Wu Ben Tang" on it. "WuBentang" is written by Xue Fucheng's superior and mentor Zeng Guofan, and "Wuben" means agriculture. Xue Fucheng, who advocated the foreign affairs movement, warned his descendants that while serving the country through industry, they must not forget that agriculture is the foundation of the country. The main hall is a place used by the host to receive important guests and hold major ceremonial events.
The back hall is the fourth entrance of the entire house, and the three rooms in the middle are "Huiran Hall". The word "Huiran" is taken from the "Huiran Kenlai" in the Book of Poetry, which means to welcome guests. Huiran Hall is a place for the hostess of the Xue family to meet relatives and friends, handle family affairs, and is also a place where the xue family meets.
It is said that Xue Fucheng personally designed and sketched the sketch before he went on an envoy to Britain, France, Italy, and Bibi, and entrusted it to his eldest son Xue Nanming to be responsible for building it. The layout is regular and the functional division is strict, the courtyard is divided into three axes of middle, east and west, the front is narrow and the back is wide, and the central axis is composed of the entrance hall, the car hall, the main hall, the back hall, the turntable building, and the back garden; the east axis is composed of a Western-style marbles room, a Xuecang hall, a control hall, a loquat garden, a yinfengxuan, and a theater; the west axis is composed of a scripture building, a west garden, a Buddhist hall, and a miscellaneous room.
YinFengxuan is an important part of the East Garden of Qin Envoys, independent garden, elegant scenery, is Xue Nanming prepared to celebrate Xue Fucheng's sixtieth birthday, unfortunately Xue Fucheng died prematurely at the age of 57, and did not enjoy it. Later, on the sixtieth birthday of Xue Nanming's wife Wu, a banquet was held for Xihu celebrities to come here for several days. The design of the stage conforms to the principle of acoustics, the dome-shaped roof design, the rear sound insulation screen, the sound through the reflection of the roof and the screen, and the pond water surface resonates. The Flower Hall Theatre is a place where the Xue family holds festive activities, receives relatives and friends or negotiates business, and then watches theater and entertainment, tastes tea and watches fish.
Marbles room
Turntable building
The turntable building is two stories high, pure wood structure, eleven bays wide, hard hilltop, five stacks of fire-sealing walls on the gables, and the two ends of the building are connected by boxes, and the plane forms a "hui" shape, and in the middle is a rectangular patio. This is the largest patio in the whole house, and the patio floor is paved with flower streets. Because the corridors upstairs and downstairs of these two buildings are all inward to the patio side, through the stairs in the wing, up and down front and back can be walked through, commonly known as the turntable building. Compared with the existing turntable building in China, the turntable building of Chinjend has two differences: First, its scale is grand, and its surface is eleven bays wide. The first four into the nine bays have exceeded the prescribed system, to the turntable building is even more committed "a great crime", careful Xue Fucheng through the broken ridge of the architectural art of the turntable building divided into three, five, three bays, Xue Fucheng's former residence of the turntable building has thus become the largest turntable building in China. The second is expressed in the architectural style of Combining East and West. You can look up at the railing of the corridor on the second floor, and the shape of the railing is made of the advanced lathe processing technology of the time.
The design of the patio is a major feature of xue house, the former residence has a left and right symmetrical patio between each two entrances, and the patio is planted with flowers and trees and stone building pavilions, so that every door and window can reflect the beautiful scenery.
Xue Fucheng, who traveled far and wide, was influenced by Western culture, and his mansion was also expressed in the combination of Chinese and Western architectural styles. The main building basically follows the regulations of the middle and late Qing Dynasty, and the carving and decoration in the subtleties are ingenious, basically "no brick, no carving, no wood and no carving", which reflects the highest level of Chinese architectural technology. Qin's first heavy eaves and pavilion, the cloister is tortuous, the layout is reasonable, the carving is fine, and it is gorgeous and colorful, which not only has the characteristics of the late Qing Dynasty, but also has the local characteristics of Wuxi, and has important historical and cultural value and architectural art research value.
Qin Envoy Di is a courtyard-style open pattern of bureaucratic mansions, modern residential buildings and Jiangnan garden art harmoniously combined, between each hall on the central axis, the courtyard is dotted, the scenery is different. The independent back garden, the west garden covered bridge, the pavilion, the qiao ke, the mountain stone harmoniously match, the environment is elegant and beautiful; the flower hall and the stage of the east garden are even more self-contained courtyards, and its water pavilion stage is the most distinctive, which is rare in China. In the northwest corner of the back garden, there is a transmission building with the architectural heritage of Ningbo Tianyi Pavilion, as well as garden scenery such as Huangshi Pile Mountain, Strange Flowers and Grasses, Bamboo Forest Qiao ke, Andongqiao Pavilion. The newly renovated Scripture Building is the most distinctive scenery of the back garden, and it is a must-visit place for literati rioters.
Listen to the rain boat
A stone ship is moored on the shore, and many gardens in Jiangnan have similar stone ships, and it also has a more meaningful name - not to tie a boat. "Zhuangzi Nanhua Jing" Yun: The skillful work and the wise worry, the do nothing and ask for nothing, the full and travel, the pan is like a boat that is not tied.
Listen to the exquisite wood carvings of the garden cabin in the rain boat
Every old house has its own story. Among the many old mansions in Wuxi, Xue Fucheng's former residence is more famous. The plaque of "Qin Envoy Di" inscribed by Guangxu Yubi is still preserved on the front of the door, which is one of the largest existing modern bureaucratic residences in Jiangsu Province. Since its completion, Xue Family Garden has experienced more than 120 spring and autumn seasons.
【Source: "Learning to Strengthen the Country" Jiangsu Learning Platform】
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