Weiyi Pavilion

Weiyi Pavilion

Weiyi Pavilion is a cultural relic protection unit of Suzhou City.

Weiyi Pavilion is located in the eastern part of Tinglin Park in Yushan Town, Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province. Also known as "Fang Hai Pavilion," it was built in the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934) to commemorate Fang Hai, the first Civil Affairs Chief of Kunshan after the Xinhai Revolution, former president of Beijing Women's Normal University, and a renowned calligrapher of modern times.

In 1904, Fang Hai led the local residents to plant trees all over Ma'anshan, initially forming the scale of a garden, and in 1906, it was opened as Ma'anshan Park. In 1936, the government of the Republic of China renamed it Tinglin Park. After the outbreak of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, the people of Kunshan gathered at Tinglin Park and issued the cry of "The rise and fall of the nation concerns everyone," reviving this famous quote by a distinguished figure from Kunshan that once again spread across the land. During the occupation, the people of Kunshan, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, bravely resisted the Japanese invaders. In 1939, eight members of the New Fourth Army—wounded soldiers and civilian workers—were martyred on Ma'anshan, and Baoguo Pavilion in Tinglin Park stands as a witness to this history.

In April 1932, Fang Hai passed away in Nanjing. The people of his hometown specially arranged for his coffin to be transported back to Kunshan on a dedicated train. He was publicly buried by the lotus pond at Dongzhai on the southeastern foot of Ma'anshan in Tinglin Park, and a pavilion was built with a stone stele inscribed with Fang Hai’s biography placed inside in his memory. During the Cultural Revolution, Fang Hai’s tomb, stele, and pavilion were all destroyed. In the early 1980s, during the renovation and restoration of Tinglin Park, a small and exquisite four-cornered pavilion was constructed east of the winding bridge in the eastern part of the park and named “Fang Hai Pavilion” in honor of this notable figure from Kunshan who made significant contributions to his hometown. The pavilion covers a construction area of 30.25 square meters. In 2004, it was announced as one of the third batch of cultural relic protection units in Kunshan City.

Fang Hai (1867–1932), originally named Zhang Fangzhong, with the courtesy name Weiyi and the late pseudonym ? An, was a native of Penglang in Xinyang (a district split from the northwest of Kunshan during the Qing Dynasty and re-merged into Kunshan in the first year of the Republic of China). In the 27th year of the Guangxu reign (1901), he co-founded the first modern school in the county—Yuege Academy—in Banzhan Garden, and in the same year, he initiated the establishment of the Tinglin Society at the Tinglin Ancestral Hall (approximately where Peiben Primary School is today). In the 32nd year of the Guangxu reign (1906), when the Kunshan-Xinwu Education Association and Chamber of Commerce were established, he was elected president of both. In the final years of the Guangxu reign and during the Xuantong era, he was also elected as a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Advisory Bureau and a ... More details about Fang Hai ++