Zhoushan Wang Family Mansion

Zhoushan Wang Family Mansion

The Wang Family Mansion, located at No. 51 Dongguanmiao Lane in Dinghai District, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, boasts an extraordinary grandeur and is truly the foremost ancient residence in Dinghai. Built during the Qing Dynasty, the mansion faces east and covers an area of 841 square meters. It currently consists of structures such as the front house, main house, and left and right wing rooms. The main house has seven bays, featuring an exterior brick and interior timber structure, with a total width of 29 meters and a total depth of 9.7 meters. It uses nine purlins, all employing a through-tenon structure, and features a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof.

The Wang Family Mansion is simple yet elegant. In May 2000, it was designated by the municipal government as a "Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Site," with a plaque inscribed with the words "Wang Family Residence" embedded at its entrance. I remember in my childhood, Shanghai Film Studio produced a black-and-white comedy film titled "Seventy-Two Tenants of a Big House," which was screened nationwide. Around that time, dozens of families also lived in the Wang Family Mansion, so the residents were humorously referred to by locals in Dinghai as the "Seventy-Two Tenants of Dinghai."

The builder of the Wang Family Mansion was named Wang Keming, styled Lishan, a native of Dinghai born in 1820. He had four brothers, with Wang Keming being the 0th eldest. His father passed away early, and his mother raised the four brothers with great hardship. Initially, Wang Keming traded in fishery goods. Around the age of 20, he went to Shanghai to work as a clerk at a foreign-owned trading firm called "Renmao Foreign Firm." Due to his quick wit, diligence, and efficiency, he quickly won the favor of his boss. Before long, he was appointed as the shop manager by the foreign owner and gradually accumulated some capital. Later, when the foreign owner returned to his home country, he left the management of the firm to Wang Keming. As fate would have it, the foreign owner never returned, and the "Renmao Foreign Firm" became Wang Keming’s property.

With this opportunity, Wang Keming started his own business independently and soon became a wealthy tycoon. He gradually acquired many properties and even opened a business called Licha Foreign Firm in Shanghai. Wang Keming was a filial son who understood the importance of repaying kindness. To show gratitude for his mother’s upbringing, upon returning to Dinghai, he built this luxurious and imposing Wang Family Mansion for her to enjoy. Although Wang Keming was wealthy, he had one regret—his lack of offspring. Therefore, after his mother passed away, he divided the property among his elder and younger brothers.

Time flies, and the tenants of the Wang Family Mansion have changed over the years. Before the liberation of Zhoushan, the mansion once served as the office building of the Kuomintang (KMT) Zhejiang Provincial Party Department. After liberation, it became the office building of the Dinghai County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), later transformed into the residential quarters for the families of cadres of the Zhoushan Prefectural Committee, and is now the office building of the Zhoushan Municipal Retired Cadres Management Committee.

Visiting the Wang Family Mansion gives a very pleasant impression. Among the few remaining old residences in Dinghai, the grandeur and decorative richness of the Wang Family Mansion’s gatehouse are arguably unmatched. The gatehouse decoration is entirely characteristic of a wealthy family, with stone carvings on the upper corners of both door pillars depicting scenes of playing musical instruments, phoenixes seeking phoenixes, and wedding processions. The lintel also features brick carvings, with the central image portraying ancient stories. The figures are full-bodied, charming, vivid, and adorable. On either side of the door are carvings of cloud and dragon motifs, with bat patterns below symbolizing good fortune and prosperity. Above are carvings of four auspicious creatures: dragons, phoenixes, qilins, and turtles, depicted with fierce expressions and facing east. The upper section also includes brick carvings, with the central part bearing a seal script brick plaque inscribed with “Purple Air Comes from the East,” flanked by four vivid human figure carvings. Below are sawtooth-patterned city wall brick decorations, symbolizing the everlasting strength and impregnability of the Wang Family Mansion.

The Wang Family Mansion is a typical example of Qing Dynasty architectural style. Its two heavy wooden doors are covered with iron sheeting and adorned with the mythical beast Jiaotu, which holds a bronze ring door handle in its mouth. Above the handle is a design of evergreen. Stepping through the black-painted large iron door and standing in the courtyard, you’ll see a quadrangle compound with an exterior brick and interior timber structure. It has two floors, stone-paved floors, stone steps, stone thresholds, and the mansion faces east with high walls and flying eaves stretching toward the sky. The wooden window lattices inside are exquisitely carved, and the parapet walls of the courtyard feature diamond-patterned lattice windows. The stone-paved courtyard is neatly square, with corridors surrounded by columns topped with floral designs, each column head adorned with carvings of mythical beasts and human stories.

The Wang Family Mansion is also known as the Wang Family Horse-Riding Tower. The gate tower is as tall as the wall and is divided into three levels: upper, middle, and lower. The upper level features brick-carved bracket sets, the middle level is adorned with patterns such as endless knots, longevity knots, money bats, the God of Longevity presenting peaches, the Goddess Magu offering longevity, peony flower baskets, and the Harmony Immortals. The lower level consists of a wide and tall stone door frame, carved with phoenixes and peonies, top scholars achieving success, and Jiang Ziya meeting King Wen at eighty. These patterns all symbolize “prosperity, wealth, and peace.” Overall, it can be described as “fine bricks, black tiles, horse-head walls, hanging corridors, flower lattice windows.”

The house covers a total area of 841 square meters. Due to its age, parts of it have been damaged. Currently, it consists of structures such as the front house, main house, and left and right wing rooms. The main house has seven bays, a total width of 29 meters, and a total depth of 9.7 meters. It uses nine purlins throughout, all constructed with a through-tenon structure, and features a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof.

The entire residence is simple yet elegant, extraordinarily grand, and leaves one with a deeply moving impression. The Wang Family Ancestral Home is truly a classic example of ancient dwellings in Dinghai. As the people of Dinghai in our generation, we should understand it, cherish it, and protect it.