He Kui Manor

He Kui Manor

In the south of Baijiatuan Village, Haidian District, in the western suburbs of Beijing, there stand three steep peaks. The central peak is the highest, while the eastern and western side peaks are lower, resembling three incense sticks piercing the clouds. For many years, people have called them the "Three Incense Sticks." At the foot of the Three Incense Sticks, there is a spring called Baijia Spring, which flows into a pool in a mountain hollow. He Kui Manor is built on the platform of Baijia Spring Ridge at the foot of the Three Incense Sticks and is one of the four major manors of the Qing Dynasty in western Beijing.

He Kui Manor has a history of about a hundred years. According to local elders in Baijiatuan Village, the surnames He and Huo were once considered the same family, as they were indistinguishable. Originally, they were one family. Master Huo, who was castrated in his youth and became a eunuch in the imperial palace, was later promoted to the chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace. He was highly favored by the emperor, possessing both power and wealth. One day, Eunuch Huo came to Baijia Spring Ridge on the southern mountain of Baijiatuan and invited a feng shui master. The master determined that the area, with its towering peaks, the Three Incense Sticks as a barrier to the south, and the encircling eastern and western mountains, along with the Wengkeng depression at the base of Huozhizhu Mountain to the north, was an auspicious site. He then acquired the land on the ridge, constructed a residence and temple, and lived there until his death. Before passing away, he bequeathed the estate to his nephew, He Kui, and purchased several hundred acres of mountain land around the ridge, planting fruit trees and cultivating the flat slopes into fertile fields, thus establishing a landlord manor.

He Kui Manor is built on the northern platform of Baijia Spring Ridge. Over the years, the mountain streams on the eastern and western sides of the ridge have eroded deep gullies. To the south of the ridge lies a natural barrier, and access to the manor is via sloping paths on the eastern and western sides of the ridge. Northwest of the ridge, there is a large flat terrace where several simple houses were built, originally serving as the manor’s courtyard. On the southern side of the ridge, a three-bay Dragon King Hall was constructed, facing west with north and south side halls. The main hall enshrines the Dragon King and Dragon Mother of the Western Sea. In its prime, the pool was surrounded by white stone railings, with a carved stone dragon head embedded in the eastern stone wall, from which clear spring water spouted into the pool. The western side of the pool features the entrance to the Dragon King Hall, with a flush-gable roof gate. A winding path leads downhill from the gate to the western slope, where a small temple stands on a platform with blue-tiled roofs and red walls.

The temple walls have circular windows, giving it a quaint appearance. As no deities are enshrined inside, it is called the "Empty Hall." From the western slope to the base of the mountain, a thick, tiger-skin-patterned stone wall was built. At a turn on the slope, there is an artificially excavated cave, approximately 20 meters deep, 3 meters wide, and over 4 meters high, used for storing grain and supplies. Further up leads to the manor buildings. The manor faces south and is a traditional multi-courtyard quadrangle, with a main gate featuring a flush-gable roof and meticulously joined bricks, sealed with glutinous rice lime mortar. The gate has an arched entrance with two iron doors. Inside, a straight screen wall greets visitors, with a four-panel screen door to the west and a corner gate to the east, which is usually kept closed. To the east of the courtyard is a long, narrow passageway, flanked by a thick tiger-skin-patterned stone wall at the outer end, with watchtowers at both ends. The towers have gunports, and guards patrolled day and night for security. The outer courtyard has four south-facing rooms. The doors and windows feature arched frames, with iron window bars and decorative circular patterns at the top, exquisitely crafted. There are two wing rooms on the east and west sides. The north side features a moon gate, leading to corridors on the east and west that connect to the wing rooms. The main hall has five bays, with eaves extending forward and side rooms on the east and west. Behind the hall are five bays of wing rooms, with three rooms on each side. The central courtyard is spacious, with valuable flowers planted around the perimeter and a lawn in the center, serving as a martial arts practice area for He Kui and his wife. In its prime, dozens of pagoda trees were planted on the slopes around the manor, their twisted branches casting shade over several acres. A few ancient pagoda trees still remain at the foot of the slopes.

He Kui was the son-in-law of Yin Fu, the second-generation successor of the Baguazhang martial art. Yin Fu was a disciple of Dong Haichuan, the founder of Baguazhang, and was renowned for his mastery of the art. After marrying Yin Fu’s daughter, He Kui had three sons: He Zhongqi, He Zhonglin, and He Zhongxiang. The brothers learned Baguazhang from their parents from a young age. The eldest and youngest were particularly talented and skilled, gaining fame among Baguazhang practitioners, and both served as martial arts instructors after the liberation. He Zhonglin, slightly less skilled, worked as a farmer. It is said that He Kui Manor served as an underground communication station for the Communist Party before liberation, leveraging its unique status to provide intelligence to the West Mountain guerrillas.

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, He Kui Manor was looted by troops under Zhao Tong, who wore red and blue armbands. Most of the manor’s buildings were burned down. Today, the Dragon King Hall and its surrounding courtyard remain relatively intact, along with parts of the manor and some houses. After liberation, He Kui Manor was nationalized and taken over by the fruit tree team of the Beijing Western Suburbs Farm.

As a landlord manor, He Kui Manor rented out land and employed farmers from Baijiatuan Village, making its exploitative nature evident. During the Four Cleanups Movement in the 1960s, local farmers exposed the He family’s exploitative practices. He Kui Manor was also held up as a representative of landlord manors. As times have progressed and society has advanced, this once-influential landlord manor has now become a historical and cultural heritage site for the local people, ensuring that future generations will not forget.

Hot Spring Area: The Hot Spring Town is located in the northwest suburbs of Beijing, in the southern part of the new northern district of Haidian. Blessed with a favorable location and scenic surroundings, it has historically been home to numerous gardens and villas.

Historical records indicate that the area now known as Hot Spring Town was largely part of Changping County (formerly Jundu County) before the Ming Dynasty. The southwestern part may have belonged to Yuh River County from the late Tang Dynasty to the early Jin Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, the area roughly north of the current Baiwang Mountain to Hot Spring Road belonged to Changping County (or Prefecture), including Tai Zhou Wu, Yangjiazhuang, and Dongbutou, while the southern part, including Baijiatuan, Hot Spring, Gaolizhang, and Xinzhuang, belonged to Wanping County. By the early Qing Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Kangxi... Detailed information about the Hot Spring area++