Former Residence of Zhang Lande

Former Residence of Zhang Lande

The Former Residence of Zhang Lande is a cultural tourism attraction.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, in the second year of the Republic of China (1913), Xiao De Zhang came to the British Concession in Tianjin with substantial wealth, his family, and servants, where he purchased land and built a residence at No. 55 Chongqing Road. Later, he gave the building to Prince Qing Zaizhen and constructed another garden-style residence at the corner of Hubei Road and Zhengzhou Road. This residence covered an area of 8.75 mu and was built in a castle style that blended Chinese and Western architectural elements. The entire building consisted of a front section and a rear section, connected by an enclosed sky bridge. The floors inside were made of a combination of hard and soft woods imported from the Philippines, featuring exquisitely designed patterns. The interior was furnished with a variety of luxurious Chinese and Western-style furniture. The large garden in the courtyard included a lotus pond, rockeries, pavilions, and more. In his later years, Xiao De Zhang’s family fortune gradually declined. In 1951, he moved into this standalone small building and passed away here in 1957. The garden residence had entrances on both Zhengzhou Road and Hubei Road, with the main entrance located on Zhengzhou Road. After the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, the entire structure was rebuilt, and its original appearance was lost. The current preserved site is at No. 4, Jinlin Village, Munan Road, Heping District.

Zhang Lande (1876–1957), originally named Zhang Xiangzhai, courtesy name Yunting, was from Nanlu Guantun, Jinghai County, Tianjin. He was the last eunuch supervisor of the Qing Dynasty.

Born in 1876 during the second year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty. He came from a poor background.

In the fourteenth year of Guangxu (1888), after being mocked by wealthy individuals, he risked self-castration to become a eunuch.

In the seventeenth year of Guangxu (1891), he entered the Qing imperial palace as a “tea house” eunuch, taking “Haha Li,” another eunuch, as his master. He was ranked in the “Lan” generation of palace eunuchs, with the serial number Zhang Lande, and was given the name “Hengtai” by Empress Dowager Cixi, and the palace name Xiao De Zhang. Unable to endure life in the palace, he once pretended to be insane... More details about Zhang Lande ++