Yan Xishan's Former Residence

Yan Xishan's Former Residence

Yan Xishan's Former Residence is a cultural tourism attraction.

Yan Xishan's Former Residence is located at No. 55 Shaanxi Road, Heping District. Built in the 1920s, it is a three-story brick-and-wood structure with a Western classical-style pointed roof. The residence features two carved iron gates on the east and west sides, a garage in the courtyard, as well as a large locust tree and various other plants. The building has a semi-basement that serves as a boiler room. Both the second and third floors have large open balconies, giving the building a trapezoidal shape that is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. The exterior is adorned with exquisite column carvings. Ascending over a dozen stone steps and passing through a round foyer, you enter the first floor, which contains six rooms including a living room, dining room, and study. These rooms are interconnected via sliding carved glass doors, with ornamental carvings on the ceilings, Philippine hardwood flooring, double-glazed windows, and central heating. The second floor includes five rooms such as bedrooms and bathrooms, while the third floor has three rooms used as storage and servant quarters.

I. First Governor of Shanxi

Yan Xishan, courtesy name Bochuan, was born on October 8, 1883, in Yonghe Fort, Hebian Village (now part of Dingxiang County), Wutai County, Shanxi Province, into a family of landlords and commercial moneylenders. Yan lost his mother at the age of five and was raised by his grandmother at his uncle’s home. At the age of nine, he attended a private school, and at 16, he went with his father, Yan Shutang (Ziming), to the family-run Jiqingchang Money Shop in Wutai County to learn business, handling loans and financial transactions. In 1900, when the money shop went bankrupt, Yan Xishan and his father fled to Taiyuan to escape creditors. To make a living, Yan once worked at Yusheng Store (a... More detailed information about Yan Xishan++