Former Residence of Liu Yazi in Shanghai

Former Residence of Liu Yazi in Shanghai

The Former Residence of Liu Yazi in Shanghai is a cultural tourism attraction.

No. 517 Fuxing Middle Road (formerly No. 557 Lafayette Road) is a French modern-style garden residence that once served as the Shanghai home of Liu Yazi, a modern democratic revolutionary, founder of the Nanshe literary society, and poet.

This house was built in 1926 and originally belonged to Feng Yuxiang. In 1936, Liu Yazi leased this Western-style house. This north-facing French garden villa features a double-pitched hip roof, red tiles, yellow walls, and a black-painted front door. The exterior facade is rendered with roughcast cement, the door is arched, and the string course between floors is distinctly red and white. The interior includes wooden fittings, flooring, and doors/windows. On the second floor of the small villa is a large living room, while the third floor serves as both a living area and workspace. The residence faces south and was originally designed as a Western-style courtyard, which still retains lush trees and green lawns today. After passing through the surrounding wall and entering the black-painted gate, you can either ascend the outdoor stone steps to the second-floor living room or use the internal staircase. To the west side of the living room, a long row of tall bookshelves stands facing south, housing various publications dating from the eve of the 1911 Revolution up to the 1930s. The left window on the third floor contains Liu’s workspace.

During his time here, Liu Yazi frequently interacted with He Xiangning, wife of Liao Zhongkai, and engaged in anti-Japanese salvation activities. It was here that he completed the compilation of historical materials on Nanshe, authored *A Brief History of Nanshe*, transcribed the manuscript *The Remaining Collection of Manshu*, as well as *Outline of the History of the Southern Ming Dynasty* in four volumes and *Chronological Table of the Southern Ming* in one volume. With the help of Qian Xing and Zheng Zhenduo, he also produced research articles related to the Southern Ming. Before leaving Shanghai, he finished his *Autobiographical Chronicle of Liu Yazi*. Urged by underground CCP member Zhang Qiong, on December 13, 1940, he fled to Hong Kong aboard the ocean liner “Queen of Asia” along with his wife Zheng Peiyi and their second daughter Liu Wujiu. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Liu Yazi returned to Shanghai and continued to live here. He was often invited to the CCP delegation office on Sinan Road in Shanghai to work towards peaceful negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party. On October 18, 1947, he left for Hong Kong again.

In February 1949, he was invited by Mao Zedong to come to Beijing to participate in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. On October 11, 1950, he came back to Shanghai from Beijing and once gathered joyfully with relatives and friends at home. At that time, Liu Yazi was in high spirits and recited Mao Zedong’s poem *Snow* (*Qinyuan Chun · Xue*) as well as his own response poem on the spot. When bidding farewell to Shanghai, he donated all the ancient books from the Ming and Qing dynasties onwards, along with family-inherited and personally collected materials on the Southern Ming Dynasty, Nanshe and other revolutionary histories, and local documents of Wujiang totaling 44,000 volumes, to the state. These are now housed in the Shanghai Library. He also gave the books from his Shanghai residence to the Shanghai History Museum. Thereafter, he resided in Beijing for many years until his passing in 1958.

The former residence of Mr. Liu Yazi has now been converted into residential housing, with several families living there, but the front lawn and flowers remain lush and vibrant as they were in the past.

Liu Yazi (1887–1958): Originally named Weigao, courtesy name Anru, later changed his name to [name redacted], courtesy name Yalu, then changed again to Qiji, also known as Jiaxuan, and used the courtesy name Yashi. Later, to unify his name, he adopted Yashi. A native of Lili Town, Wujiang, Jiangsu Province, he founded and presided over the Nanshe literary society. He once served as Sun Yat-sen’s secretary, a central supervisory committee member of the Kuomintang, and director of the Shanghai Chronicles Office. After the “April 12” Incident, he was wanted and fled to Japan. He returned to China in 1928 and engaged in anti-Chiang activities. During the Anti-Japanese War, he worked with Soong Ching-ling, He Xiangning, and others on anti-Japanese democratic activities and served as [position redacted] of the Central... More details about Liu Yazi++