Chongqing has a Juren Building, a grand mansion with a blend of Chinese and Western styles.

Chongqing has a Juren Building, a grand mansion with a blend of Chinese and Western styles.

In 1933, Chen Gengyu, who was a regiment trainer in Ba County, Chongqing, invited a foreign designer to build a courtyard with a blend of Chinese and Western styles in Caijiagang, Beibei, which took three years to complete.
The entire courtyard consists of the main building, a back garden, and a front courtyard, covering an area of about 10 acres, with a construction area of 960 square meters.
The main building has two floors and a basement, with a total of 20 rooms. The house is made of brick and wood with a hip roof, surrounded by corridors, with exquisitely constructed gates and various patterns carved on the column heads.
Chen Gengyu built this courtyard in memory of his father, Chen Jiebai. Chen Jiebai was a Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level) in the late Qing Dynasty and served as an official in many places in Guizhou.
In his later years, he returned to Beibei, Chongqing, and ran a school with his two sons in Caijia Township, becoming a teacher.
Chen Gengyu named this courtyard Juren Building, but a year after its completion, 84-year-old Chen Jiebai passed away.
After 1949, Chen Jiebai's second son, Chen Jinhui, donated the Juren Building to the government. It was later used as a school and a hospital.
In 2009, the Juren Building was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Chongqing under the name "Chen Family Courtyard." The recently popular historical drama "Towards the Southwest" was filmed here.
Today, a park has been built around the Juren Building, where citizens can admire the beauty and elegance of this Republic of China building up close.

Post by AkseliKoskinen | Nov 15, 2024