Former Residence of Liu Ran Gong

Former Residence of Liu Ran Gong

The former residence of Liu Ran Gong is located at No. 66 Jianguo Road, Hebei District. Built during the Republican era, the entire residence is a two-story brick-and-wood building in an Italian architectural style. The total area of the compound is 2,330.16 square meters, with the two-story building comprising 24 rooms. The basement has the same structure as the main building and includes 12 rooms. There is also a rear building featuring an overhanging column corridor and connected towers, giving it a magnificent and imposing appearance. The former residence of Liu Ran Gong has undergone several renovations, but the main structure’s exterior has remained largely intact, with many original materials preserved. To this day, some window frames and railings are still the originals from that time. The residence was once a well-known newspaper office in modern Tianjin. It is currently used by the Tianjin Timber Company and is listed as an immovable cultural relic in Tianjin that has not yet been officially designated as a protected heritage site.

Liu Ran Gong (1895–1938), courtesy name Zhongru, was a Hui ethnic person from Wuqing (now part of Tianjin), Zhili (present-day Hebei). He once served as a soldier in the Qing New Army, a clerk at the French Embassy in China, and the detective chief of the French Concession Municipal Council in Tianjin. In 1924, he co-founded the *New Tianjin Newspaper* with Duan Songpo and Xue Yuelou, promoting itself as “for the common people” and “daring to speak out.” To cater to readers’ tastes, it experimented with “publishing storytelling” by serializing long-form storytelling novels such as *The Three Swordsmen and the Magic Sword* in full-page spreads, which helped boost circulation and reach as far as the Northeast and Northwest regions. Later, it also successively published the *New Tianjin Evening...* More details about Liu Ran Gong ++