Mahalanobis Manor

Mahalanobis Manor

Ma Ma manor is located in Xijiang village, 20 kilometers west of Anyang City, Henan Province. It is the residence of Ma Piyao, governor of Guangdong Province in Qing Dynasty. It was built from Guangxu of Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China. It covers an area of more than 20000 square meters, including a construction area of more than 5000 square meters. It is known by scholars as "the unique specimen of feudal bureaucrat's residence in Zhongzhou" and "the first official residence in Central Plains"

It is a national key cultural relic protection unit, a national AAAA tourist attraction, a national Red Tourism classic scenic spot, and an honest and clean government education base in Henan Province.

In January 2017, Mahalanobis manor was listed in the list of national Red Tourism classic scenic spots.

Evolution of construction

From 1880 to 1885, the main hall was built.

In 1883, the west road was built.

Guangxu 13 years (1887), the road began to build.

In 1889, the East Road was built.

In 1924, the East Road was built, while the middle and West roads only built the gate and the street house. Later, due to the change of the current situation, it was not built.

In the early years of the Anti Japanese War, it was owned by Anyang normal school, Anyang No.1 middle school, Jiangcun primary school and Jiangcun grain station.

On September 25, 2000, the people's Government of Henan Province announced it as a provincial cultural relics protection unit. In the following years, the government allocated huge sums of money for comprehensive maintenance several times and basically restored the original appearance.

On April 30, 2007, Anyang County held the first cultural tourism festival of Mahalanobis manor, and "the largest house in the Central Plains" was officially opened to the outside world, becoming a famous tourist attraction. With its grand buildings and rich historical and cultural resources, Mahalanobis manor has been promoted from a common "zero a" scenic spot to a national 4A scenic spot. In May, Mahalanobis manor was renovated and officially opened to the public.

On April 23, 2009, the opening ceremony of 4A scenic spot was held.

architectural composition

Mahalanobis manor covers an area of more than 20000 square meters, of which the building area is more than 5000 square meters. It is divided into three districts and six roads, each road is divided into four courtyards and nine gates, commonly known as "nine gates". The whole manor layout is rigorous, well arranged, simple and elegant, majestic and solemn. It not only has the typical spacious and bright architectural style of Beijing Quadrangle, but also has the deep and rich architectural art of Shanxi Merchants' courtyard, as well as the architectural characteristics of blue brick, gray tile, five back and six beast hanging corridor in Central China.

The North District is located in the north of Zhongjie Road, facing south from north. There are two quadrangles in the front and back, and the East and the west of the backyard are built with one courtyard respectively, which is called "Yayuan flat house". Most of the buildings are hard hilltop buildings, which were originally the ancestral houses of Ma Piyao. When the four brothers separated, they gave it to their second son, Ma Jizhang. In the early years of the Republic of China, Ma Jizhang renovated and rebuilt Yuan Shikai's presidential palace during his tenure as the internal history officer.

Central district is the largest of the three districts, accounting for about two-thirds of the whole estate. It is located in the north of Nanjie street and also faces south. There are 158 buildings of various types, which are composed of the first road of family temple and the third road of residence. Among them, the first road of family temple is located in the East, and the second road of residence is located in the West. The four roads form their own systems and echo each other.

There are three arches at the lower level of the main entrance of the family temple, and five reading buildings at the upper level. There are five East and West rooms in the courtyard, which are called "east school" and "west school". There are five main rooms in the hall, suspended on the top of the mountain, with front and back porches and high platforms, which are called "Yanyi hall"; there are three wing rooms in the backyard, with "clothes collection center" in the East and "sacrificial utensils collection center" in the West. There are five main halls, tall and magnificent, which are called "yuxiutang", namely Xiangtang. Front platform. Its specifications and layout were built in strict accordance with the Qing Huidian, which was formulated during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. It was built in 1880 to 1885.

The architectural form and pattern of residential three roads are similar. They all open the main gate in the south, and are composed of four quadrangles, with the vestibule and the back hall, which are symmetrical from left to right, and are raised step by step from south to north. The gate of the middle road is tall and grand, while the East and west main gates are all Dongquan gates, and the screen gate is built inside the gate of the west road. Only the middle road has two doors with built-in screen doors. The backyard is different: five bungalows on the West Road, five on the middle road and five on the East Road, and three on the East Road. In terms of architectural specifications, the middle road is the highest, followed by the East Road and the west road. In terms of construction time, the west road was built earlier in 1883, the middle road in 1887 and the East Road in 1889. Ma's brothers separated. The East Road was owned by Ma jisen, the eldest son, and the west road was owned by Ma Jishu, the fourth son.

The South District and the Central District face each other across the street. The original design was three roads. The East Road was built in 1924, while the middle and West roads only built the gate and the street house. Later, due to the changes of the current situation, it has not yet been built.

South District east road block south to north, also for nine doors, before and after four courtyard. Among them, toujin hospital and Sanjin hospital are smaller, with two and three doors respectively, two corridor rooms on both sides of the door and three rooms in the East and West Wing rooms respectively; the two and four hospitals are larger, with seven main rooms and five rooms in the East and West Wing rooms respectively.

The scale and specifications of the buildings in the Southern District are significantly higher than those in the central and northern districts. This is not only reflected in the increase of the building volume and the number of gates, but also in the extensive use of exquisite stone, brick and wood carvings. The reason is that the Southern District was built in the period of the Republic of China, and was no longer subject to the various regulations and restrictions of the feudal society. When Ma's four brothers separated, they were given to Ma Jimei.

All the buildings in the manor are of brick and wood structure, with gray tiles covering the top. Most of the roofs are hard mountaintop type, with suspended hills and flat roofs. Its architectural features include not only the traditional courtyard in Beijing, but also the local folk architecture in Central China and the carving art in Shanxi. Another prominent feature is that most of the main rooms and the auxiliary rooms have front porches, while some have front and back porches, forming a corridor surrounding the courtyard, which is convenient for walking, especially in rainy and snowy days.

Main attractions

Cixi Hotel

Empress Dowager Cixi's residence is located in the main room of the third courtyard on the middle road of the Central District, which was the old residence of Ma Piyao's stepmother Yang in her later years. On August 15, 1900, the Allied forces of the eight countries invaded Beijing. Empress Dowager Cixi, Emperor Guangxu and a group of escorting ministers including Ma Jizhang fled to Xi'an for refuge. The next year, he returned to Beijing from Xi'an. On January 1, 1902, Empress Dowager Cixi arrived in Zhangde (Anyang). At the invitation of Ma Jizhang, Empress Dowager Cixi was allowed to stay at Ma's manor. The wooden partition fan of the hall is also engraved with the words "Mei Shou Wujiang".

Guangxu Hotel

Emperor Guangxu stayed in the East Chamber of the backyard where Empress Dowager Cixi stayed. Ma Jizhang lived here after he was filial to his father and mother and after Wuchang Uprising. When Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi returned to Beijing on January 1, 1902, they stayed here.

Ma Piyao's former residence

Ma Piyao used to live in the main house of the last courtyard on Zhongqu middle road. It is a two-story building with five rooms in width, high platform, corridor in front, hard hilltop style and internal stairs. Both the upper and lower plaques were written by Ma Piyao himself. They are called "danyuanlou" and "self-cultivation hall". The couplet "one is loyal to the minister and filial son, two things to study and farm" is also written by Ma Piyao.

Maggison's former residence

Ma jisen's former residence is located in the east of Ma Piyao's former residence, which is in line with the custom of "the eldest son living in the East". It is similar to the old residence of Ma Piyao. In the middle of the forehead on the bottom floor is inlaid with a huge wooden plaque of "de you Lin Tang", which imitates Su Dongpo's handwriting.

Ma Qingxia's former residence

Ma Qingxia's former residence, also known as Ma Jiaxiu building, is located in the same courtyard as Ma jisen's former residence. It is located in the east wing, with three hard peak buildings. In the middle of the forehead on the bottom floor is a large wooden plaque imitating Su Dongpo's handwriting.

Former site of Liu Deng Army

In the middle of June 1947, Liu Deng's army left Shangdang area in the southeast of Shanxi Province and entered Northern Henan Province. Its headquarters was located in ma'i manor. Commander Liu Bocheng and political commissar Deng Xiaoping respectively stayed in the East and West rooms of the third courtyard on the West Road of central district. On June 22, 1947, the "Southwest Shandong war conference" was held in the main room of this courtyard.

Jinshi plaque

The plaque is 241 cm long, 99 cm wide and 4.5 cm thick. Wood. Golden yellow ground, decorated with a pattern of cloud and dragon in relief. In the middle of the script, there are three characters "Jinshi Di", running script. The book on the right reads: "the left Minister of the Department of accounts is also in charge of the affairs of the three treasuries. The Minister of Dali Temple inspects the right-wing Jueluo Xue Zheng dunjin. The chief executive of the Ministry of government and industry, the Secretary of the Ministry of military, is in charge of the affairs of shuntianfu, Wan Qingli The right Minister of the Ministry of household is also in charge of the affairs of Qian Fatang, and the vice capital of the Han army of Zhengbai banner is tongxilin Wei. On the left side is written "the 18th Chinese Gongshi palace examination in renxu examination in the first year of Tongzhi, the third grade A, the 20th imperial examination, the third grade, and the 17th Jinshi born in Ma Piyao Li". They are all imitated song style.

Longevity axis

In 1894, Ma Piyao entered the capital in the name of Que, and was twice summoned by Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu. In order to celebrate her 60th birthday in October, Cixi personally wrote the words "Shou" and "Fu" as well as Ruyi, mangpao and Chitou in writing on September 25 to reward Ma Piyao for his outstanding achievements.

"Shou" axis,

Chinese PinYin : Ma Shi Zhuang Yuan