Former Residence of Xia Nai

Former Residence of Xia Nai

The former residence of Xia Nai is a Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The former residence of Xia Nai is located at No. 102, Cangqiao Street, Cangqiao Community, Wuma Subdistrict, Lucheng District. It was the ancestral home of Xia Nai, a founding figure in China’s archaeology, with the main structure facing south. The original southern section adjacent to Cangqiao Street consisted of a two-story, seven-bay wooden row house used as storefronts, while the northern part comprised four residential courtyards.

The small eastern courtyard is a long, narrow space with front and rear rooms arranged in a row, all single-story buildings with flush gable roofs. The side courtyard walls serve as gables, with roof purlins resting directly on them.

The central courtyard is a quadrangle composed of a gatehouse, wing rooms, the main house, and a rear gate platform. The gatehouse has a five-bay facade, blending slight Western elements, with bluestone door frames and a brick-and-plaster exterior. The south elevation features carved bluestone inserts below the windows and doors, with a rear corridor and arched gate. Behind the gatehouse lies a courtyard, flanked by three two-story brick-and-wood wing rooms on each side, and a five-bay, two-story main house with a flush gable roof spanning seven bays in depth. The second-floor railings of the gatehouse and wing rooms are connected by bottle-shaped balustrades, and the main house has corridors on both front and rear sides. A brick gate platform is set along the central axis on the north side of the middle courtyard. The north originally housed the Xia family garden. At the northeast corner of the wall is a circular well with a bluestone rim, stone-lined interior walls, and clear water, surrounded by granite slabs.

The southwest courtyard features a brick gate platform set westward from the courtyard of the central gatehouse, combining Chinese and Western styles with a Baroque-style facade. The main house is a three-bay, two-story wooden structure with a flush gable roof, featuring a five-pillar, eleven-purlin framework with a central pillar dividing the space into three-step beams at the front and back, along with double-step corridors. The wing rooms are two two-story bays each, with board doors and panels on the courtyard-facing facades.

The northwest courtyard’s main house is a three-bay, two-story brick-and-wood mixed structure with a flush gable roof, featuring a southern exterior corridor spanning 11 meters. The roof framework uses a gable truss system with purlins supported by sloping beams, with fine wooden strip plaster ceilings beneath. The second-floor railing is made of wooden bottle-shaped balusters, while the north wing room uses prefabricated concrete lattice-patterned railings with a quartz mortar finish. Each wing room consists of one bay, located north of the main house. The front eaves of each bay have board doors and sash windows, with flush gable roofs. The main house’s roof is a hip-and-gable design without corner beams. The small northwest courtyard’s gate platform is located on the north side, with a simple geometric design above the granite lintel on the facade and a traditional single-slope gable design on the rear.

Xia Nai (February 7, 1910 – June 19, 1985), originally named Zuo Ming, was a founding figure in China’s archaeology and a renowned social activist. He served as Deputy Director and later Director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Member of the Philosophy and Social Sciences Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the National Cultural Relics Committee, and President of the Chinese Archaeological Society. He made significant contributions to China’s archaeological endeavors. The former residence of Xia Nai was designated as a municipal cultural relics protection unit by the Wenzhou Municipal People's Government in 2000.

Protection Level: Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit

Era: Republic of China

Category: Important Modern Historical Sites and Representative Buildings

Protected Area: Defined by the surrounding building walls.

Building Control Zone: East extends approximately 12 meters outward from the protected area boundary; south bounded by Cangqiao Back Lane, west by Juren Tan Lane, and north by Sanguan Dian Lane.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units