Former Site of Enze Medical Bureau

Former Site of Enze Medical Bureau

The Former Site of Enze Medical Bureau is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a patriotic education base.

The Former Site of Enze Medical Bureau is located at No. 43 Wangtiantai, Wenhua Community, Gucheng Subdistrict, Linhai City, within the former dormitory area of Taizhou Health School.

The Enze Medical Bureau complex was built by British missionary Bai Mindeng and stands as one of the representative early Western-style hospital buildings constructed by Western missionaries in Linhai. It is also the birthplace of Western medicine in Taizhou.

Enze Medical Bureau, along with Hangzhou’s Guangji Hospital and Ningbo’s Renze Hospital, were three sister hospitals under the Anglican Diocese of Zhejiang, and it is the only one that still remains. Over time, the bureau fell into disrepair due to neglect. In 2001, Chen Haixiao, then president of Taizhou Hospital, took notice of the preservation issue and submitted a restoration application report to the Taizhou Municipal Government. The original residents were relocated, and a rescue restoration project was launched, eventually restoring the bureau to its near-original historical appearance.

The bureau consists of three Western-style buildings: the main building to the north, connected by two corridor bridges to the two auxiliary buildings to the south. The doors and windows feature church-style pointed arches, covering a total area of 917.6 square meters. The main building has eight rooms on the ground floor and is two stories high. The middle two rooms house the main entrance, topped with a pyramidal stone plaque inscribed with the four characters “恩泽医局” (Enze Medical Bureau). The front side is surrounded by a corridor on three sides, with wooden railings on the second floor. Between the southwest corridor bridges is a three-room wooden structure, and the southwest corner features a church-style brick-and-wood building. The southwest building has three rooms over two floors, with triangular trusses and eleven rafters. Inside, there are Roman-style stucco decorations, and the corridors and railings match those of the main building.

Currently, the bureau houses over 100 well-preserved calligraphic works related to its history, including pieces such as "Song of Good Birds," "Debt Collection," and "Supporting Charity," which document the challenging early days of running the hospital and its founding philosophy. Many touching historical stories also unfolded here: in 1942, after completing the Tokyo bombing mission, a crew from the American Doolittle Raid force made an emergency landing in Taizhou. Medical personnel from Enze Medical Bureau provided urgent rescue and treatment and safely evacuated the injured. The site preserves the ward of injured crew member Lao Xun and materials such as a thank-you letter from U.S. President George H. W. Bush, bearing witness to the profound friendship between the Chinese and American peoples during the anti-fascist war.

On September 27, 2011, the Enze Medical Bureau was designated a “Linhai Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.” On January 13, 2017, it was listed as a “Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit,” and on October 2019, it was announced as a “National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.” The bureau is also recognized as a Zhejiang Province Health Culture Promotion Base, a Taizhou Patriotic Education Base, and a Linhai Patriotic Education Base.

Wenhua Community: Located in the old city area, Wenhua Community stretches from Chicheng Road in the east to Zhufangtu in the west, from Ximen Street in the south to Chemenqiao in the north. It was formed by merging the former five neighborhood committees — Wenhua, Guangchang, Xingzhu, Ximen, and Wusuo — along with three institutional units: Taishi, Taiyi, and Geological. The community covers an area of 1.696 square kilometers, with office space of 55 square meters, service space of 30 square meters, and activity space of 30 square meters.

Wenhua Community was established in June 2001, located at No. 1 Wenhua Road. The community has a total of seven staff members. It serves 2,977 households with a population of 8,183 people, … Wenhua Community Detailed Information++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units