Weng Tonghe's former residence

Weng Tonghe's former residence

Weng Tonghe's former residence is located at No.2 wengjiaxiang gate in Changshu City. It is an ancient residence with typical Jiangnan architectural style. There is a statue of Weng Tonghe in the back hall, and the inscription of Kang Youwei's "the first tutor of the reform" on the back.

Who is Weng Tonghe? The teacher of the two emperors of the Qing Dynasty. This house was owned by the sangs of the big family in Chenghua Hongzhi of Ming Dynasty. It was named senyi hall and conggui hall. During the Wanli period of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty, it was the residence of Yan Shu, guqin family, magistrate of Shaowu. In 1833, Weng Tongshu's father, Weng Xincun, bought it from the surname Zhong. The Weng family lived here for several generations. Weng's descendants were all overseas. After the cultural revolution, they donated the former residence to the country.

I saw a stone archway at the entrance of the lane, which was called "Zhuangyuan archway". The pillars of the archway were engraved with couplets: "in this archway, there are my great uncle and nephew, my younger brother Kun, my younger brother Fu Xiang, my painting pillars and carving beams, and my family status Haiyu, who is called the crown generation. Why count the number of Bangyan and feel old? Huiyuan has its own archway, and its famous Qin water makes the mountains." This couplet was written by Weng Tongli sun and Qian Zhonglian, a scholar of poetry and prose in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It roughly summarizes the glory of Weng family.

Entering the gate, along the central axis are the hall, sedan hall, Caiyi hall, houtang building and shuangguixuan. The open and tall Caiyi hall is a Ming Dynasty building. It is the main hall of Weng's former residence. It is a place for Weng's family to receive guests and daily business. Because of Laolaizi's story of "colorful clothes entertaining relatives" in "twenty four filial piety", it was renamed "colorful clothes hall", which implied the meaning of being an official for generations and full of colorful clothes.

Later, Weng's family did have a prosperous official career. He was the Minister of the Ministry of work, the Ministry of war, and the Ministry of official affairs. Weng Tonghe's elder brother Weng Tongshu was the Jinshi, and he was the assistant lecturer of Hanlin academy and governor of Anhui Province. Weng tongjue was the head of the military department and governor of Huguang. Weng Tonghe was the number one scholar, and he was the editor of Hanlin Academy. He was the imperial teacher and leader of the imperial party in Tongzhi and Guangxu dynasties. The beams, beams and rafters of Caiyi hall are painted with more than 100 colored paintings, which are classic works of Jiangnan colored paintings. Caiyi hall niche couplet: "mianshi Ze is not as good; zhenjiasheng or reading." The hall column couplet is: "a generation of perfect people, the wind and smoke trees stay long, worry about the country at the beginning, the rumor to the moth eyebrow, zero rain east to the Dragon que change; Kyushu great hope, the sun and the moon and the new sky, rise to the hall, at this time, the elves pass the mountain, the big cloud West Yang pigeon peak high." The author is still Qian Zhonglian.

On the east side of the Caiyi hall is the flower hall, also known as yulanxuan. Here is Weng Tonghe's cultural relics exhibition room. There are Guanzi, which Weng Tonghe has commented on, and the used inkstone covers, which are covered with Weng's inscriptions. On the west side of the central axis are siyongtang, baiguxuan, MINGTING, Jinyang library, etc. and "Xiaonanguo" gardens. The couplet on the front wall of Jinyang library is: "all the people who enter my room are upright; there are many ancient paintings and books in this hall."

Weng's diary is displayed on the display. All his life, Weng Tonghe kept his promise of integrity. He has been in charge of the national finance for more than ten years, but he still has nothing left to do. In his later years, he still needs help from relatives, friends and students, and even sells paintings and calligraphy. I copied the records in Weng Tonghe's Diary: Li Fengbao came to Beijing to see him for a job and gave him 200 gold as a gift, "Li quezhi"; his friend Miao Yusheng and his nephew went to Beijing to take an exam and gave him 100 Liang gold as a gift, "wantui"; he Peizhen, a world friend, gave him 400 gold as a gift and "returned it"; Luo Jiajie, an acting magistrate of Jiangsu Tongzhi and Nanhui County, gave him 200 gold as a gift and "refused"; Taiyuan City, Jiangsu Province Ma Yukun, the county commander, came to Beijing and presented 400 gold coins to the audience. When Weng Tonghe returned to his hometown, Changshu was suffering from a severe drought. He immediately asked the governor of Jiangsu to allocate 3000 stone rice for the flat sale.

After the 1898 coup, Weng Tonghe was demoted by Empress Dowager Cixi in 1898. Some people also say that there are other reasons: Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to celebrate her birthday in the summer palace. She ordered the Ministry of household to withdraw millions and set up a colorful fence in paiyun hall. "Weng Chibu can't do it." Empress Dowager Cixi was very angry. After a month, when she summoned the ministers of the inner government, she still swore not to set it up. In a short time, Weng opened up a vacancy. " (according to xinshishuo) in the Sino Japanese naval battle of 1894-1895, Weng Tonghe was in charge of the battle, and Li Hongzhang was in charge of peace. Later, he was defeated in the battle. Li Hongzhang was not well prepared, and spent most of his Navy's military expenditure to help build the summer palace.

Address: Changshu City, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Longitude: 120.741581

Latitude: 31.64064

Official website: http://wengtonghe.com

Chinese PinYin : Weng Tong He Gu Ju