Cai Jiazhai

Cai's house is known as the first house in Hainan's hometown of overseas Chinese. It is located in the Liuke village of Mo Village Committee, Boao Town, Qionghai City. It is a large house with Chinese and Western blue brick walls, which is very imposing and unique. It was built in 1934 by Cai Jiasen, a wealthy Indonesian businessman in the village. After more than half a century of wind and rain, today's style is still. The front eaves of the upper and lower houses contain not only ancient Chinese coins and ancient palace lantern sculptures, but also Western three-dimensional flower plates and ancient Roman head sculptures. The roof not only retains the ridge of Hainan folk houses, but also boldly uses western square, round and arc patterns, making the whole roof unique and beautiful. It is the outstanding representative of Hainan folk houses.

Cai Jiazhai

Located in Liuke village, Boao Town, Qionghai City, Hainan Province, it was built by Cai Jiasen, an overseas Chinese leader of Indonesia. It covers an area of more than 400 square meters, has a construction area of more than 1200 square meters, and has more than 50 rooms large and small. The layout of the building is like entering a labyrinth, and looks more like an ancient castle from the appearance. The residential buildings in 1920s and 1930s are still well preserved, which is known as "the first residence in the hometown of overseas Chinese".

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Introduction to the old house

The ancient national characteristics contain the strong Nanyang style. The front eaves of the houses are carved with flying faucets, and the wood carving of doors and windows is an exquisite traditional skill. There are also three-dimensional flower plates of western style and sculptures of ancient Roman statues in the column flower railing. The roof not only retains the cornices and ridges of Hainan folk houses, but also organically combines the Western relief patterns of square, round and solitary lines.

The front and back court of the courtyard are connected with the upper and lower stairs. In rainy days, you can walk around every corner of the courtyard without wet shoes. The closely connected ring corridor has the function of wind and rain protection, so the house is fresh and pleasant, warm as spring all the year round.

In addition, caijiazhai is a solid and safe building. There are hidden shooting holes in the stairwell outside the gate, which can effectively prevent bandits from attacking, and people in the house have no worries. The halls and courtyards of CAI's house are inlaid with colorful floor tiles. Although they have gone through more than 70 years of vicissitudes, they are still as fresh as new ones, which can be compared with modern ceramic tiles. These exquisite wear-resistant floor tiles were shipped back from Nanyang by the owner of the house. Pieces of ceramic tiles, are from a foreign country across the ocean and arrived at the village, condensing the master's painstaking efforts. Liuke village has a history of about 400 years. There are 176 households in Liuke village. There are ten surnames: Cai, Mo, Yu, Zhu, Chen, Han, Wang, Lu, Zhou and Qin. Among them, there are more than 1000 overseas Chinese living in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao and other places. In the late Qing Dynasty, most of the young men in Liuke village traveled across the Wanquan River by boat from the ancient ferry at the entrance of the village to make a living as "Fanke".

historical background

Cai Jiasen, the owner of the Cai family's house, has four brothers. His father died early and his family was poor. Cai Jiasen and his two younger brothers went to Indonesia to make a living following the upsurge of "going to fan". After years of hard work, the CAI brothers became famous local rich businessmen and overseas Chinese leaders among Indonesia's "Fanke". Like many "Fanke" who went out from Hainan, the first thing in the hearts of the rich Cai brothers was to go back to their homes and build ancestral houses, return home in fine clothes and honor their ancestors. In 1934, Cai Jiasen returned to Liuke village in Qionghai and built Cai's house with his brothers. In each hall of CAI's house, there are "Gongge" dedicated to ancestral tablets. The "public pavilion" of CAI's house is very high, and every time they burn incense to worship their ancestors, they use a ladder to go up and down.

The luxurious Cai family compound has only been lively for a few years. When the Japanese invaded Hainan in 1939, the Tsai brothers returned to Indonesia, leaving only their old mother and servants who refused to leave their hometown. After the death of CAI Jiasen's mother, the mansion began to watch endlessly in loneliness and became an empty house. It was not until the 1980s that Cai's family returned from abroad to pay homage to their ancestors. The house is now under the care of Han Xinyuan, a villager entrusted by his descendants. Cai's mansion represents not only a period of history, but also an architectural culture, full of mystery and legend.

Address: caijiazhai nature reserve, liukexia village, Mo Village, Boao town

Longitude: 110.535161

Latitude: 19.133107

Chinese PinYin : Cai Jia Zhai