Jiuguoli

Jiuguoli

Jiuguoli is a cultural heritage site protected by the Suzhou Municipal Government.

Jiuguoli is located north of Changchun Lane in Yangyuxiang and consists of a cluster of six two-story buildings built during the Republican era. The constructor of Jiuguoli was Zhang Yiquan (1867–1943), a renowned patriotic figure from Suzhou and a close friend of Li Genyuan. Zhang Yiquan, a native of Wu County, Suzhou, once served as Minister of Education in the Cabinet of Xu Shichang and as a member of the National Political Council. Together with Li Genyuan, the two worked in Suzhou to promote rural reform, establish schools in villages to spread education, rescue the “Seven Gentlemen,” and devoted themselves to the anti-Japanese salvation movement at the risk of their lives. They earned the praise and respect of the people of Suzhou and patriots across the nation, and were known as the “Two Elders of Wuxia.” Guo Moruo even praised them as the “Elders of the Nation.”

When Jiuguoli was constructed, it coincided with the September 18th Incident. To express his strong patriotic and national salvation ideals, Zhang Yiquan specifically named this architectural complex “Jiuguoli” (literally “Patriotic Salvation Neighborhood”). In 1943, after Zhang Yiquan passed away, his family, in accordance with his wishes, transported his coffin from Chongqing back to Suzhou and buried him in a mountain hollow behind Baima Temple on Baimaling in Xiangshan, Wuxian.