Sanglu

Sanglu

Sanglu is located between Qianhou Zhongjinli on the west side of Xiaohe Road, west of Gongchen Bridge, within Quzhou Road Community, Gongchen Bridge Subdistrict.

Also known as Xinguang Silkworm Hatchery, Sanglu was established in 1935 by Ms. Wang Xieru from Jixi County, Anhui Province. Wang Xieru had studied sericulture in Japan. In 1934, she and her university classmates jointly rented a space on Jesus Lane in Hangzhou to establish the Xinguang Silkworm Hatchery. In the winter of 1935, Wang Xieru and others raised funds to purchase land and build a facility in Gongchen Bridge, relocating the Xinguang operation there in the spring of the following year. The entire project was completed in the spring of 1937, but due to the full-scale invasion by Japanese forces, they had to abandon the property and seek refuge inland. During the Anti-Japanese War, the hatchery was forcibly occupied by the Japanese Navy’s inland water patrol. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, Wang Xieru returned to Hangzhou, renovated the buildings, and to raise funds, rented the main building and adjacent wing rooms to Hangzhou No. 1 Textile Mill (later Hangzhou No. 1 Cotton Mill) as staff family housing. In the spring of 1946, Wang Xieru and others reinstated operations under the name “Xinguang Silkworm Hatchery.” Meanwhile, the textile mill employees’ families, for ease of communication and mail, named the rented building “Sanglu.” In 1956, having passed the age of 50 and feeling her energy waning, Wang Xieru donated the breeding equipment to an old classmate from Suzhou Sericulture School, who then established a larger hatchery in Jianggan District. In the same year, as the state implemented a policy of purchasing private enterprises, Wang Xieru applied to Gongshu District Real Estate Management Bureau for public-private joint management of Sanglu and the entire hatchery property, which was approved and taken over. After closing the hatchery, Wang Xieru went on to teach “Sericulture Studies” at Hefei University in Anhui. In 1958, she worked at the Cultural and Historical Research Institute in Jixi County, Anhui, and passed away in 1990.

The original Sanglu compound consisted of six buildings with a total floor area of 1,800 square meters. After later renovations, only one main structure and several auxiliary buildings remain. The current main building of Sanglu is situated slightly north of the center of the courtyard, rectangular in shape, longer from east to west and shorter from north to south, covering an area of 364 square meters. It faces south with a two-story brick-and-wood structure, a four-sloped roof, eight bays in width, and a raised platform foundation. Straight-run staircases on both the east and west sides connect the upper and lower floors. Both the first and second floors have front verandas, each bay has one door and one window facing each other, and all doors and windows are equipped with transoms to ensure bright and ventilated interiors.

Sanglu was among the earlier sericulture hatcheries in modern Hangzhou that advocated scientific silkworm breeding. It played a certain role in promoting the development of the sericulture industry in the Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou regions at the time, as well as in introducing and spreading advanced Japanese sericultural techniques. It is one of the few national enterprises in China founded by a woman, holding significance in the history of women’s liberation and the development of national capital.

On October 31, 2003, Sanglu was designated by the Hangzhou Gardens and Cultural Relics Bureau as one of the first municipal-level cultural heritage protection sites in Hangzhou.

Protected area: The boundary of the Sanglu site, with a total area of 4,159 square meters.

Construction control zone: East to the red line of the west side of Xiaohe Street, south to the red line of the north side of Hangyin Road, west to the red line of the east side of Jixiang Temple Road, north to the extension line of the wall of Hangzhou No. 1 Cotton Mill, with a total area of 30,162 square meters.

Gongchen Bridge Subdistrict: Gongchen Bridge Subdistrict is named after the three-arched stone bridge spanning the canal during the Ming Dynasty within its jurisdiction. Established in August 1954, it is the location of the Gongshu District Committee and District Government. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs through the area, dividing it into east and west sections. It borders Shangtang Subdistrict to the east and north, neighbors Xiangfu and Hemu Subdistricts to the west, and connects to Xiaohe Subdistrict to the south. The subdistrict covers an area of approximately 3.03 square kilometers, with a permanent population of over 44,300. The subdistrict office is located at No. 40 Wenzhou Road.

The subdistrict government has six internal functional departments: the Party and Government Comprehensive Office, Economic Development Division, Soc... More details about Gongchen Bridge Subdistrict++