Anren Ancient Town
China Museum Town (C)
Yuan Sheng
Four
In August 1922, Liu Xiang, then commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army and governor of Sichuan Province, resigned and returned to his hometown of Anren.
In 1923, Liu Xiang began to build a mansion in his hometown, opening a chapter in the beginning of the Anren Mansion complex. After the mansion was built, Liu Xiang lived here for several years.
Liu Xiang Mansion is located in Jixiang Street, Anren Ancient Town, covering an area of 30 acres, sitting west and facing east. The mansion is majestic, the buildings are tall and large, the bricks and green tiles are dai, the walls are high and the corridors are long, and the doors are black and painted. The building is mainly made of wood, and the houses are all two-storey two-bedroom suites, with small green tile roofs, carved doors and windows, and traditional auspicious patterns in decorative patterns. The windows of the living room are bright and clean, the tiles are paved, and the walls are decorated with cypress wood, which is magnificent, giving people a solemn feeling. It not only inherits the characteristics of traditional western Sichuan residential architecture, but also draws on the expression techniques of Jiangnan gardens, and also integrates Western architectural symbols in some parts, which fully reflects the development and changes of modern western Sichuan residential architecture.
The layout of Liu Xiang Mansion is in the shape of "product", which is divided into three parts: the front yard, the inner courtyard and the back yard, which is very private and safe.
The front yard is composed of a small western-style building, a lady's building and a garden. The small western-style building is known as the "General's Building", which is the place where Liu Xiang works, meets guests and holds meetings. There is a meeting room on the second floor, flanked by corridors. Behind the small western-style building is the two-storey lady building, with unique shape and complex decoration, which is the place where Liu Xiang's family lives.
The inner courtyard is the place where Liu Xiang and his main entourage live and live, the space is very large, the patio is 28 meters long and 24 meters wide, it is the largest residential courtyard in western Sichuan. The building is a two-story structure, with a single-eaves overhanging hilltop and a bucket roof truss, supplemented by a beam-lifting type, and 4 wearing 7 columns.
The backyard consists of a brick and wood structure building and a large playground, which is the place where the guards live and train for military training, and has a strong military color.
The courtyard and the courtyard and the garden are separated by flower walls, which has the visual effect of "the wall is not the scene" of the Jiangnan garden.
Liu Xiang Mansion (courtesy of Wang Xiaoyu)
The second gate of Liu Xiang Mansion is decorated with vertical straight columns, which resembles an archway. On the back is a gray plastic Wanzi brocade, a conch, a back pattern, a bat, etc., forming a pattern of Wanfu stretching and auspicious. The two sides are inlaid with couplets: "In the fog, Zhongshan remembers the hometown and the country, and thinks of the soldiers; In the vast world, look at the world, who will comfort the common people with rain. It is said that the couplet was written by Liu Xiang and written by Luo Chengxiang, the champion of the late Qing Dynasty, which shows that Liu Xiang has extraordinary ambitions.
Liu Xiang Mansion (photo courtesy of Xu Kui)
A small stream from east to west is dug between the front yard, inner yard and back yard, which is called "Vermilion Bird Yingshui" in feng shui, which means prosperity. The small bridge and flowing water add to the dynamic and wild interest in the mansion, making it more poetic. There is a large garden in the patio, with sparse flowers and trees, mottled laurel shadows, and lovely. There is a bamboo garden behind the house to shade the sky and the sun, which adds full agility to the mansion. In the courtyard, there are nanmu and orange trees planted by Liu Xiang himself, which have now grown up. or shade the day, or bear fruit and hang branches, it is very pleasant. There may be more unsolved mysteries in the mansion waiting to be discovered.
Liu Xiang Mansion (Photo courtesy of Wu Jiarong)
Soon after the outbreak of the Lugou Bridge Incident, Liu Xiang sent two telegrams, advocating a nationwide general mobilization and a desperate battle with the Japanese invaders.
In September 1937, Liu Xiang led hundreds of thousands of Sichuan troops out of Sichuan to resist the Japanese and commanded the defense of Nanjing.
On January 20, 1938, Liu Xiang suffered a recurrence of stomach disease and died in Hankou, the front line of the Anti-Japanese War. When he was dying, he left a will: "Resist the war to the end, unswervingly." That is, the enemy army will not retreat from China for a day, and the Sichuan army will not return to its hometown for a day!" Later, Liu Xiang was posthumously awarded the rank of first-class general of the National Revolutionary Army.
Liu Xiang's death was a great loss to the Republic of China and a great loss to the War of Resistance Against Japan. Chairman Mao said: "The country has lost a pillar, and the Sichuan army has lost a commander." ”
In June 2007, Liu Xiang Mansion was announced as a cultural relics protection unit in Sichuan Province.
Introduction to Liu Xiang Mansion and the stone tablet of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit (Photo courtesy of Jia Xiansheng)
Five
The Liu Manor Museum, one of the three core resources of Anren Ancient Town, is composed of two parts: the southern area and the northern region. The two areas are about 300 meters apart, and there is an ancient street of An Huili in between. A small river runs through the street, and there are many teahouses, food streets, and specialty commodity stores next to it.
The southern area of Liu's Manor Museum is the mansion of Liu Wencai, a famous landowner and businessman in western Sichuan during the Republic of China. Locals call Liu Wencai's Mansion the Old Mansion, which is the most representative Chinese rural manor building among the dozens of mansions in Anren Ancient Town.
Liu Wencai, whose name is Xingting, was born in the thirteenth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1887) in Liujiadunzi, Anren Town. Because of his rampant behavior in the township and his many evils, he was called "Liu Laohu" by the local people.
In 1921, Liu Wencai's younger brother Liu Wenhui served as the brigade commander of the Sichuan Army and was stationed in Yibin. Liu Wencai was successively appointed as the director of the Yibin Branch of the Sichuan Tobacco and Liquor Company, the director of the Hunan Shipping Donation Bureau, the director of the Southern Sichuan Merchant Protection Division, the general director of the Southern Sichuan Anti-Smoking Investigation Division, the General Office of the Southern Sichuan Taxation Bureau, and the commander of the Lieutenant General Qingxiang in Southern Sichuan. Liu Wencai has financial and military power, that is, in southern Sichuan, there are 44 kinds of expropriation projects in Syria alone. More than 100 kilometers from Leshan to Syria, there are more than 30 checkpoints that forcibly collect commercial taxes. He forced the peasants to grow opium poppies, and then collected tobacco seedling tax, tobacco soil tax, brokerage tax, and red lantern donations. The peasants who did not grow opium poppy were taxed lazily, causing the people of southern Sichuan to suffer greatly.
In November 1931, Liu Xiang sent planes to bomb Yibin, and Liu Wencai fled for his life. Before fleeing, in the name of collecting military expenses, he looted 200,000 silver yuan in Yibin City, and together with the gold and silver treasures he had plundered in the past, he packed more than 4,500 large wooden boxes and transported them back to his home in Dayi in 20 boats.
Liu Wencai Mansion (photo courtesy of Wang Shanqiang)
Liu Wencai Mansion was built in the late 20s of the 20th century and took shape in early 1931. Later, after more than ten years of expansion and reconstruction, the current scale was finally formed.
Liu Wencai Mansion is a rare combination of Chinese and Western and magnificent manor residential buildings in the country. Its architecture, sculptures, collections, relics, etc., are important objects for understanding and studying the politics, economy, and culture of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, as well as the history of Sichuan warlords, folklore, and modern residential architecture, as well as a cross-section of the history of China's modern and modern social development.
In 2001, Liu Wencai Mansion was rated as a national 4A-level tourist attraction by the National Tourism Administration.
In 2009, it was rated as a national third-class museum by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
At present, Liu Wencai Mansion is listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit, a national cultural relics system excellent patriotic education base, and a national youth education base.
Liu's ancestral residence (courtesy of Wang Xingjian)
The layout of Liu Wencai's mansion is an irregular polygon, surrounded by a wind and fire wall more than 6 meters high. There are a total of 7 village gates, and the walls on both sides of the village gate are equipped with gun holes, and the armed men raised by Liu Wencai can shoot indiscriminately. The whole mansion covers an area of 18.45 acres, with a construction area of 7,650 square meters, 160 houses, 27 large and small patios, and 3 gardens. The mansion building is luxurious, the shape is different, the carving is exquisite, there are high walls and alleys everywhere, and the thick door and iron lock are like a labyrinth.
The shooting hole in Liu Wencai's mansion (photo courtesy of Chen Xiaoping)
Liu Wencai's Mansion is divided into a hall, a Western-style living room, a Chinese-style living room, a garden, an inner courtyard, an ancestral hall, a Buddhist hall, a study, a porcelain room, Liu Wencai's bedroom, Liu Wencai's wife, Yang Zhonghua's house, Liu Wencai's children's house, Liu Wencai's aunt's wife, Wang Yuqing's bathroom, women's room, summer smoking room, cinnamon hall, feng shui pier, longevity room, back garden, moon viewing platform, lady's building, embroidery room, Xiaoyao Palace, account room, employment house, rent collection house, granary, opium smoke storehouse, dungeon, water prison, secret vault, etc.
Liu Wencai's bed is called the Kowloon Pillar Bed, with an area of 9 square meters. The six pillars on the outside of the bed are inlaid with large golden dragons made of gold leaf. In ancient times on the mainland, only emperors could enjoy such treatment.
Liu Wencai's dragon bed (photo courtesy of Zhang Xiaoyuan)
Liu Wencai mainly traveled in sedan chairs and rickshaws, and in order to show his identity, he also bought a limited edition American Ford brand sedan.
Liu Wencai's car, rickshaw, sedan chair (Photo courtesy of Andy Lau)
Liu Wencai's manor has a coffin room with a total of 6 luxurious coffins. The top of each coffin is engraved with a circular character of "Shou", surrounded by 5 bats, which means "five blessings and longevity". On the surface of the coffin, a blooming lotus flower is painted, and there are 3 square heaven painting halberds inserted on the lotus flower, which means "three levels in a row". On the other side of the coffin is a sword and a book, which means "both civil and military".
These coffins were all high-grade nanmu transported from Jiangxi, and they were inlaid with gold.
Among these coffins, the coffin of Liu Wencai's fifth aunt, Wang Yuqing, is the most luxurious. Its top is engraved with the words "Yuqing Shoumu".
Shoumu room in Liu Wencai's mansion (photo courtesy of Cheng Jiankui)
Liu Wencai has collected more than 2,700 cultural relics, including 15 national first-class cultural relics, 21 second-class cultural relics, and 1,813 third-class cultural relics. Among them, the eight rosewood Baibao jade Ruyi Taishi chairs used by Hong Xiuquan in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Nanjing Tianwang Mansion are national first-class cultural relics and are known as the "treasures of the town hall" of Liu Wencai's mansion.
Liu Wencai's collection of national first-class cultural relics rosewood Baibao jade Ruyi Taishi chair (photo courtesy of Yu Fengshuo)
Liu Wencai has collected many priceless couplets and calligraphy and paintings, and its authors include Liu Yong, a politician, calligrapher, painter, writer and historian in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Zuo Zongtang, a modern national hero, politician, military strategist, poet and representative of the Westernization School, Kang Youwei, an important politician, thinker, educator and representative of bourgeois reformism from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, Qi Baishi, a modern calligrapher and painter, calligraphy and seal carver, and Zhang Daqian, a modern Chinese painter.
Kang Youwei's calligraphy and painting collected by Liu Wencai (courtesy of Ming Jingjing)
Zhang Daqian's calligraphy and painting collected by Liu Wencai (courtesy of Liu Dingkang)
One of Liu Wencai's works of art is very brightly colored, the collection is carved from a whole ivory, on which bitter gourd and cherry represent bitterness and sweetness, red-skinned radish represents prosperity, chrysanthemum represents longevity, cabbage represents wealth, and crickets represent fertility and blessings.
Ivory carving artwork collected by Liu Wencai (Photo courtesy of You Jinping)
In the summer of 1933, Liu Wencai left the military and political circles and returned to his hometown Anren Town. He used blank official deeds to cover the defenses in Huayang, Xinfan, Wenjiang, Chongqing, Dayi, Shuangliu, Qionglai and other counties, and adopted such means as occupying people's land, buying "flying fields", eating "heart fields", and buying "official fields", and seized more than 12,000 mu of land. From then on, he began to live the life of a bully landlord who exploited the peasants. When a farmer rents one acre of his field, he first has to pay 2 buckets of yellow grain as a deposit. Due to inflation, he resorted to seizing the land and making another lease or a new lease to ask the tenant to pay a new deposit. He also specially made a bucket and used the method of big buckets in and small buckets out to exploit peasants when they paid rent and bought and borrowed grain.
There is a rent-collecting courtyard in Liu Wencai's mansion, which is dedicated to exploiting tenant farmers. In the rent collection courtyard, a group of modern Chinese large-scale clay sculptures "Rent Collection Courtyard" are displayed. The work was created in 1965. According to Liu Wencai's rent collection in those years, the sculptors integrated Western sculpture techniques with traditional Chinese folk clay sculpture techniques, and created 114 life-size figures on the spot, which were placed in the 118-meter-long rent-collecting courtyard corridor. Through the continuous storyline, the work shows 7 groups of group portraits of rent payment, rent inspection, wind valley, fighting, settling accounts, forcing and resisting, and profoundly reveals the exploitation and bullying of landlords by peasants in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society of old China in the most intuitive way. Through the rent collection courtyard, people saw the blood, sweat and bitter tears of the farmers in western Sichuan in that era.
In 2007, "Rent Collection Courtyard" was rated as a national first-class protected cultural relic, becoming a milestone work in the history of Chinese sculpture.
In May 2022, "Rent Collection Courtyard" was selected into the list of 100 literary and artistic works released by the Chinese Academy of Arts.
Liu's Manor's large-scale clay sculpture "Rent Collection Courtyard" (courtesy of Yang Guangcan)
Six
The northern area of the Liu Manor Museum is the mansion built by Liu Wencai for his brother Liu Wenhui. Locals call Liu Wenhui Mansion a new mansion, which is now a national key cultural relics protection unit.
Liu Wenhui, the word is self-dry, and he is from Anren Town. Although Liu Wenhui is a few years younger than Liu Xiang, he is Liu Xiang's uncle by generation. During the Republic of China, Liu Wenhui served as the commander of the 24th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, the second-class general of the army, the chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Government, and the chairman of the Xikang Provincial Government. In December 1949, Liu Wenhui led his troops to revolt and made great contributions to the peaceful liberation of Chengdu. In his telegram, he solemnly declared that he would sever relations with the Kuomintang reactionaries and wholeheartedly obey the leadership of the Central People's Government and Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu. In 1955, Liu Wenhui was awarded the Liberation Medal of the First Class. He successively served as Vice Chairman of the Southwest Military and Political Commission, Vice Chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Minister of Forestry of the Central People's Government, and died of illness in 1976.
Notice of appointment of the Central People's Government (photo courtesy of Xue Min)
Group photo of members of the Southwest Military and Political Commission (Photo courtesy of Hu Zhijun)
Liu Wenhui Mansion was founded in 1938, completed in 1942, covers an area of more than 40 acres, construction area of 8626 square meters, is a conjoined mansion composed of two gates, each has three courtyards, a total of 200 houses, 27 patios, 4 gardens, 2 tennis courts, as well as Mochizuki Pavilion, stage, vault, etc., is the largest mansion in Anren Ancient Town.
After the completion of this mansion, Liu Wenhui has never lived in it.
Liu Wenhui's mansion has a strict structure, a grand atmosphere, and a magnificent atmosphere. It has the characteristics of a feudal mansion and the form of a Western castle building, which is a typical combination of Chinese and Western modern buildings, which visually shows people the high-quality architecture and decorative art of modern China. The mansion has a total of 3 courtyards, which collect Liu Wenhui's belongings during his lifetime, and show Liu Wenhui's youth, youth, Xikang, anti-Japanese war, uprising and other processes in the form of courtyard distribution. It truly reproduces his life of judging the hour and sizing up the situation, conforming to the trend of history, and loving the country, from which we can feel the great appeal and cohesion of the CPC's united front theory, principles and policies.
One of the gates of Liu Wenhui's mansion is the gate of Liu Wenhui's former residence exhibition hall. It is tall and majestic, sitting west to east, in a European Gothic style. The top two sides are carved and decorated with "Kiss", also known as "Kiss of the Owl", then become the swallowing beast at both ends of the temple ridge, take it to extinguish the fire and extinguish the disaster. On the forehead of the door is written several large characters "Entering Virtue and Cultivating Studies", and it is engraved in Tibetan, which roughly means "the palace of the concentration of power".
The gate of Liu Wenhui's former residence exhibition hall (photo courtesy of Chen Yinong)
Entering the door, there is a long corridor leading to the front hall, with red lanterns hanging high and flowers blooming.
Liu Wenhui Mansion Corridor (Photo courtesy of Luo Yanbing)
On one side of the promenade is a garden dedicated to the owner's relaxation and entertaining.
Liu Wenhui Mansion Garden (Photo courtesy of Shi Weishu)
On the other side of the promenade is a tasteful tennis court.
Liu Wenhui Mansion tennis court (photo courtesy of Guo Hongzhi)
Passing through the promenade, is the second gate of the mansion, which adopts the European Baroque column style and has a strong Gothic architectural style. The word "Jifu" is engraved on the forehead of the door, which means that the mansion is full of good luck.
The second gate of Liu Wenhui's Mansion (Photo courtesy of He Luzhang)
Entering the second gate, there is a tall Peiyuan Hall. The wings on both sides have been converted into exhibition halls for the lives of Liu Wenhui and other members of the Liu family. There is a living room next to the courtyard, which restores the scene of the year.
Liu Wenhui Mansion Peiyuan Hall (photo courtesy of Zhang Keming)
In the middle of the second courtyard of the mansion is a rockery, and next to it is a wing. The wing room also shows Liu Wenhui's life.
Liu Wenhui Mansion rockery (photo courtesy of Tao Hongsheng)
Facing the gate of the courtyard is a Buddhist hall, called Yanhui Hall. Next to the Buddha hall is Liu Wenhui's bedroom.
Liu Wenhui Mansion Yanhui Hall (photo courtesy of Fan Kefei)
In the third courtyard of the mansion is Liu Wenhui's office, which is equipped with a secret radio station. There is a dining room where the host eats, and there is a small stage next to it, which is where the Liu family listens to Sichuan opera.
The small stage of Liu Wenhui's mansion (photo courtesy of Li Darong)
In the Chinese living room in the east corner of the courtyard, there is a secret vault in the shape of "M". The vault has a volume of 42 cubic meters, a total of 3 iron gates, and the walls are made of reinforced concrete more than two feet thick. The walls are inlaid with wooden planks and are difficult to spot.
The secret vault of Liu Wenhui's mansion (photo courtesy of Luo Yanhong)
In 1988, the West Sichuan Folk Museum was founded by using the exhibition hall of Liu Wenhui's former residence, and more than 1,900 exhibits were displayed to the public. The museum is divided into marriage hall, production and living hall, folk craft hall, etc., which vividly reproduces the folk customs and production and life customs and habits of western Sichuan during the Republic of China, as well as the rich and simple cultural life of the people at that time and a wide variety of folk crafts. It is not only historical, but also informative and interesting. It gives people the feeling that it is like a "Qingming river map in western Sichuan".
The gate of Yanqing Garden of Liu Wenhui's Mansion (photo courtesy of Luo Yanfang)
(To be continued)
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Source: Sichuan Provincial Office of Local Chronicles
Text/Photo: Yuan Zheng (Born in Beijing in 1955, his ancestral home is Langzhong, Sichuan, and he now lives in Chengdu. Before his retirement, he was a deputy inspector of the Sichuan Provincial People's Procuratorate)