Site of the Hu Guard King's Mansion

Site of the Hu Guard King's Mansion

The Site of the Hu Guard King's Mansion is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangsu Province.

The Site of the Hu Guard King's Mansion is located at No. 187, Juqian Street, Changzhou City.

It was the former residence of Chen Kunshu, the Hu Guard King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Chen Kunshu, a native of Guiping, Guangxi, joined the Jintian Uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in January 1851 during the first year of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty. He fought across regions including Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Shanghai, earning a reputation for his bravery in battle and was regarded as the top brave general under the Loyal King Li Xiucheng. In the spring of 1862, the first year of the Tongzhi reign, he defended Changzhou and was granted the title "Deputy Spring Official of the Hall Front Ministry, Pillar of Heaven Supporting the Imperial Rule, Hu Guard King, Yue Qiansui." In 1864, when Li Hongzhang led the Huai Army in a joint siege of Changzhou with the Gordon-led Foreign Rifle Corps, the Taiping Army fought bloody battles against them for several months, repelling countless enemy attacks. Eventually, due to overwhelming odds, on May 11 of that year, Changzhou fell. The Hu Guard King Chen Kunshu led his soldiers to retreat to the Hu Guard King's Mansion, where he was ultimately captured after exhausting all strength and died a martyr’s death. Originally, the site was the office of the Yanghu County Government of the Qing Dynasty, which Chen Kunshu converted into his residence after taking control of Changzhou. The remaining structure is a U-shaped, brick-and-wood revolving building (commonly known as a "Zouma Lou" or horse-walking building), 24.5 meters wide from north to south and 24 meters long from east to west, covering a total area of 1,050 square meters. The ancient buildings occupy approximately 594 square meters, other auxiliary buildings 352 square meters, and courtyards 456 square meters. The central three rooms downstairs feature a hall with brick-paved flooring connected to side inner rooms via carved water-milled brick doors. The dragon-phoenix patterns and fish-leaping-over-the-dragon-gate designs on the roof tiles and drip tiles are among the original relics of the Hu Guard King’s Mansion. The wooden components of the revolving building—beams, pillars, floor-length windows, and shorter windows—are adorned with exquisitely carved patterns depicting figures, landscapes, flowers, and birds. The carvings are bold and forceful, with smooth and prominent lines, strong three-dimensional effects, and distinctive artistic features of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In March 1982, the provincial government designated it as part of the third batch of provincial-level cultural relic protection units.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units