Former Residence of Zhang Shucheng

Former Residence of Zhang Shucheng

The former residence of Zhang Shucheng is a cultural tourism attraction.

The former residence of Zhang Shucheng is located at No. 118 Chengdu Road, Heping District. Completed in 1936, it was originally a two-story Western-style building (an additional floor was added during the Cultural Revolution, making it three stories), along with a rear building, also two stories, designed by a Belgian engineer. The building features exquisite decorations, with a balcony on the second floor. The doors, windows, and floors are all made of Philippine wood. Many rooms inside the building were used to house cultural relics. The surrounding courtyard is quite large, including the area now occupied by the People's Stadium, making it a garden-style mansion. In 1956, the Tianjin People's Stadium was built adjacent to the former residence. In early 1958, Li Gengtao, through negotiations with Zhang Shucheng via Zhou Shude, arranged for the government to purchase the building for use as the office of the Municipal Sports Commission.

Zhang Shucheng (1898–1995), also known as Wenfu, with the courtesy name Renzhen, was from Tong County, Zhili (now part of Beijing). He was the son of Zhang Yi, an official in the late Qing Dynasty who served as Vice Minister of Works and Director General of Railways and Mines, and was himself a prominent industrialist. In 1913 (the second year of the Republic of China), he enrolled in Nankai Middle School in Tianjin, where he was classmates with Zhou Enlai; however, he later had to drop out due to the successive deaths of his father and elder brother. At the age of 18, he became a supervisor at the Zhongxing Coal Mine Company in Zaozhuang, Shandong, founded by his father Zhang Yi, and subsequently held positions such as director, managing director, and executive director of the company. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Shucheng served as a researcher at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences and was once a member of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference... More details about Zhang Shucheng++