Former Residence of Yao Yuanzhi

Former Residence of Yao Yuanzhi

The Former Residence of Yao Yuanzhi is a cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.

The Former Residence of Yao Yuanzhi is located within Beijie Primary School in Tongcheng City. Yao Yuanzhi (1776–1852), courtesy name Bo’ang, art name Jianqing, was a native of Tongcheng. He was a successful candidate in the imperial examination during the Jiaqing era, a painter, and served as the Left Censor-in-Chief. The residence currently retains three sets of structures: the front building, east and west wing rooms, and the rear building. Between the front and rear buildings, with the east and west wing rooms in between, lies a central courtyard known as the “front courtyard.” Behind the rear building is a rectangular courtyard referred to as the “rear courtyard.” The entire structure is 45.75 meters long and 20.48 meters wide, covering a total area of 936.96 square meters.

The front building covers an area of 132.34 square meters and features a structure with front and rear corridors. Its wooden framework remains well-preserved. The building is divided into five bays: the central bay is 6.7 meters long and 4.25 meters wide, with an area of 28.48 square meters. The two side bays are each 6.7 meters long and 3.9 meters wide, with an area of 26.13 square meters. The two outer bays are each 6.7 meters long and 3.85 meters wide, with an area of 25.08 square meters. Both the front and rear corridors are 19.75 meters long and 1.7 meters wide. The corridor floors are paved with bricks, and the edges are built with stones. Each of the front and rear corridors has eight wooden pillars. The bases of the eaves pillars are made of white marble, shaped round on top and hexagonal at the bottom, carved with patterns of seasonal flowers. The bases of the interior pillars are round on top and square below, without carvings. All rooms feature wooden doors, wooden paneling, and wooden flooring, with ventilation holes beneath the floor. The walls have wooden windows divided into two parts: the lower part consists of fixed horizontal lattice windows in a “well” pattern, adorned with circular and diamond-shaped wooden ornaments, while the upper part has vertically opening lattice windows in a “well” pattern, inlaid with scroll-patterned carvings. The corridor ceilings are covered with small roof tiles. The rear building is the same size and built to the same specifications as the front building. The difference is that the rear building has railings, additional floors along the corridors, wooden railings along the eaves, and diagonal supports under the extended beams.

The east and west wing rooms each have three bays, measuring 4.7 meters in length and 3.4 meters in width, with an area of 47.94 square meters. They have horizontally aligned “well” patterned long windows, with brick-built partition walls arranged symmetrically and in an orderly layout. The front courtyard has an “I” shape, with the east and west wing rooms separated from the front and rear buildings by 2.6 meters, forming the four corners of the “I”. The courtyard is 16 meters long and 8.75 meters wide, covering an area of 140 square meters. The rear courtyard is 20.4 meters long and 3 meters wide, with an area of 61.44 square meters. The rear courtyard’s high wall is 5.7 meters tall, topped with small roof tiles painted in ink. The wall is inlaid with openwork floral windows.

At the back of the rear courtyard, there are two magnolia trees planted by Yao Yuanzhi. Nearby is an ancient well, “where dropped stones produce a long resounding echo.” To the west of the building, there is a small bridge over flowing water, artificial rockeries, and uniquely shaped stones, as well as fine trees and lush bamboo. A pavilion named “Bamboo Leaf Pavilion” is built against the hill. Yao Yuanzhi thus styled himself as “Scholar of the Bamboo Leaf Pavilion.” The overall architecture of the former residence remains intact and is currently used by Beijie Primary School. It is listed as a municipal-level key cultural relic protection unit.

Protected area: 5 meters east, 4.1 meters south, 3.2 meters west, 10 meters north.

Construction control zone: 25 meters east, 1 meter south, 11.8 meters west, 23 meters north beyond the protected area.

Further reading:

· Fifth Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Relic Protection Units in Anqing City