Former Residence of Zhang Xueming

Former Residence of Zhang Xueming

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

The former residence of Zhang Xueming is located at No. 50 Munan Road, Heping District, Tianjin. Built in 1925, it is a two-story courtyard-style residence. The front building is the main house where the owner lived and dined, while the rear building served as staff quarters and a family classroom.

Zhang Xueming was the younger brother of Zhang Xueliang and served as the mayor of Tianjin before the liberation; he was also widely recognized as a gourmet with deep knowledge of various Chinese cuisines. His residence was exquisitely designed. The main house is a sloped-roof Western-style building with walls made of purplish-red machine-made bricks and luxurious interior decoration. The first floor includes a hall with a heated corridor and a flower room, connected to guest bedrooms, a dining room, a pantry, a kitchen, bathrooms, and a staircase. The second floor has bedrooms, a reception room, and two bathrooms. The hall features stained-glass skylights to enhance natural lighting. In front of the building is a garden filled with lilacs and covered with wisteria throughout the year.

Zhang Xueming (1908–1983), courtesy name Xiqing, was from Haicheng, Liaoning. He was a patriotic democratic figure and a lieutenant general in the Nationalist Army. The second son of Zhang Zuolin and the younger brother of Zhang Xueliang, he graduated from the Northeastern Military Academy. In 1919, he graduated from the Japanese Infantry Specialized School and once served as a military attaché trainee at the Japanese embassy. He returned to China in 1929 and held positions as the Director of the Tianjin Police Bureau and the Mayor of Tianjin. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, he lived in Europe, the United States, and Hong Kong. In 1941, after the fall of Hong Kong, he returned to mainland China. In 1943, he briefly accepted a position on the Military Committee of the Wang Jingwei regime. After the victory in the War of Resistance, he was not prosecuted and served in the Nationalist government’s... [More details about Zhang Xueming++]