Chiang Ching-kuo’s Residence

Chiang Ching-kuo’s Residence

For Chiang Ching-kuo, Shanghai could be considered his second hometown. As a teenager, he was taken care of by his “Shanghai godmother,” Chen Jieru, and attended Wanzhu Primary School in Nanshi District. After graduating, he entered Pudong Middle School, from where he embarked on his journey to study at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow...

Time passed, and by July 1948, when Chiang Ching-kuo returned to Shanghai, he had already held the prestigious position of Deputy Commissioner of the Shanghai Economic Stabilization Board and was a highly influential imperial envoy. He moved into a garden residence at No. 2, Yicun, 1610 Lane, Huaihai Middle Road (formerly Lin Sen Middle Road), together with his wife, children Xiao Wen and Xiao Zhang. The residence had been arranged for them by the then municipal Nationalist government.

Nos. 1–8, Lane 1610, Huaihai Middle Road, comprise the well-known garden-style lane residences of Yicun. This group of eight three-story Spanish-style houses was invested in by the Far East Enterprises Company, founded by Shanghai real estate developer Pan Zhiheng, and completed in 1942. The buildings occupy a land area of 4,893.36 square meters, with a total floor space of 4,267 square meters, and were constructed under contract by Qiao Yuxing of the Shanghai Xingye Trust Society.

This classic Spanish-style architecture features bright, light cream-yellow exterior walls, gently sloped roofs covered with red barrel tiles, spiral-patterned columns between the windows, and spiral-patterned small pillars decorating the fence posts. The south-facing balconies are adorned with iron railings featuring floral designs. Each private garden is planted with precious trees such as camphor, boxwood, metasequoia, dragon spruce, and magnolia, while the plane trees in the lane provide dense summer shade. Upon completion, Pan Zhiheng sold each house for 1.12 million old Chinese yuan.

The residence at No. 2 faces south and is a three-story mansion with an elegant exterior, smooth lines, and a clean yet dignified and graceful appearance—representative of the once-popular Spanish-style architecture in Shanghai. The entrance design is ingeniously conceived, compact, and refined, with highly elaborate main eaves decorations. The second floor has a south-facing open corridor and balcony, particularly suited to Shanghai’s climate. The exterior facade is simple, coated in white plaster, but the window frames vary in shape, with twisted-pattern grilles around the doors and windows and twisted ironwork railings. The back of the house houses auxiliary rooms, a garage, and more.

At the time, Chiang Ching-kuo kept the ground floor of this residence very simply furnished. On the south wall hung a full-length portrait of his father, with a large table-like long desk in the center set with tea ware, surrounded by stools, and several semi-worn sofas scattered along the walls. A room on the east side of the first floor served as the office for his aides, while the kitchen and dining room were located at the rear of the ground floor, with the central part housing the staircase. Going upstairs, the second floor contained the bedrooms and study of Chiang Ching-kuo and his wife, with an office on the west side where many orders related to price controls and the “anti-corruption campaign” (hunting the tigers) were issued. The third floor was entirely for the living quarters and storage rooms of the aides, with modestly sized rooms but thoughtful consideration given to lighting, sun shading, and heat insulation. In front of the residence was a quaint little garden, with sparse metasequoia leaves drifting from the roof and eaves. Beside the main entrance platform stood two crouching black dog sculptures, complemented by seasonal potted flowers for a uniquely charming touch. In front of the fence grew tall French plane trees, precious camphor trees, as well as boxwood, dragon spruce, and magnolia. The Chiang family usually entered through a side gate in the lane, where a small guardhouse was built.

After arriving in Shanghai to serve as the Commissioner of the Shanghai Economic Stabilization Board, Chiang Ching-kuo led a very simple daily life. He rose at 6 a.m., jogged around the small garden on Lin Sen Middle Road, and sometimes had congee for breakfast and even bought deep-fried dough sticks himself. By 8 a.m., he would clock in on time at the Central Bank on the Bund.

After the liberation of Shanghai, the residence became staff family housing for the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Encyclopedia. In 1994, Yicun was listed as a protected unit of outstanding modern architecture in Shanghai. In 1996, Shanghai Hubin Real Estate Development Company carried out redevelopment of No. 2, Yicun, and in accordance with the principle of preserving outstanding modern architecture, restored and redecorated it to its original state. In the spring of 1997, this historically rich garden residence was purchased as a private home by the boss of the Taiwanese company “Wangwang Food Company.”

Chiang Ching-kuo was born on April 27, 1910, in Fenghua, Zhejiang. He was the eldest son of Chiang Kai-shek. His courtesy name was Jianfeng, his official name was Ching-kuo, and he was also known as Nikolai. In 1916, he attended Wushan Primary School in Fenghua, in 1922 went to Wanzhu Advanced Primary School in Shanghai, and in 1924 studied at Pudong Middle School in Shanghai. He passed away in 1988 at the age of 78.

Chiang Ching-kuo was the son of Chiang Kai-shek, also known as Jianfeng, with the Russian name Nikolai, and was from Fenghua, Zhejiang. In 1920, Chiang Ching-kuo attended the famous Wanzhu Primary School in Shanghai. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek was working with Sun Yat-sen in Guangdong, so he entrusted... More details on Chiang Ching-kuo++