Hanjiang Huang Family Residence

Hanjiang Huang Family Residence

The Hanjiang Huang Family Residence is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Fujian Province.

The Hanjiang Huang Family Residence is located in Xiuxu Community, Handong Subdistrict, Hanjiang District, Putian City. It consists of two sections: the front section at No. 25 Dagongqian Road and the rear section at No. 2 Youxiang, separated by a narrow alley about 5 meters wide (i.e., Youxiang).

Huang Jixing (1875–1935), styled Huaitang, was originally from Weiyang Village, Xitianwei Town, Licheng District. He later moved to Xiuxu Street in Hanjiang. Gifted and studious, he passed the imperial examination as a xiucai (scholar) in his youth. Witnessing foreign invasions and the corruption of the Qing government, he resolved to pursue a path of national salvation through education and science to revitalize China. In 1902, along with his nephews Huang Shou and Huang Xiang, he pooled funds to establish the first modern secondary school in Putian—Xingjun Chongshi Middle School—within his own residence in Xiuxu. He served as the principal and teacher, self-taught in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, pioneering new-style education, advocating political reform, and introducing students to new ideas of science, democracy, and revolution. In 1904, he sheltered revolutionary figures from Fuzhou, including Zheng Quan, Lin Sichen, Liu Wendong, and Lin Xinzhai, who sought refuge at the school. Soon after, the Chongshi Middle School was ordered shut down by the Putian authorities for promoting revolution and harboring activists. Many of its teachers and students later went to Shanghai to join the "Fujian Students Association in Shanghai" led by Lin Sen, continuing their revolutionary activities. In 1910, Huang Jixing, together with his nephew Huang Xiang (who had returned from studying in Japan) and his brother-in-law Tu Kaiju, donated funds to establish the Xingjun Simple Normal School at the Minglun Hall of the Xinghua Prefecture Government (now the library of Zhuoying Middle School), as well as the Mingyuan Primary School at his ancestral home in Weiyang and the family ancestral hall. On November 15, 1911, revolutionary figures in Putian appointed Huang Jixing to form the Putian Branch of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui), and he became its head. After the liberation of Putian, he served as the Chief of General Affairs of the Putian Public Security Office to maintain local order temporarily. Huang Shou became the Prefect of Jianchang Prefecture in Jiangxi, while Huang Xiang was appointed as the first County Magistrate of Putian.

After the Xinhai Revolution, these patriots mostly devoted themselves to patriotic education. In 1924, shortly after the founding of Hanjiang Middle School (now Putian No. 6 Middle School), Huang Jixing taught Chinese there, donated funds for school repairs, and contributed his salary to purchase teaching equipment. In 1930, he served as acting principal of Hanjiang Middle School. Huang Jixing not only promoted revolutionary ideals but also supported his sons Huang Canglin, Huang Henglin, and Huang Dianlin in joining the underground Communist Party and League organizations. Huang Canglin was an early member of the CPC in Putian, responsible for party work in Hanjiang; Huang Henglin was an early member of the Communist Youth League Committee of Putian County; Huang Dianlin, the student council president of Hanjiang Middle School and an early member of the Communist Youth League, was sent to Jiangkou in 1930 to engage in rural movement work as the secretary of the Communist Youth League Jiangkou District Committee. In July of the same year, while accompanying Chen Yanyi, the secretary of the CPC Putian County Committee, to conduct mass work in the rural areas of Jiangkou, he was unfortunately captured during a Kuomintang military sweep. He was soon executed at the southern gate of Putian, becoming the youngest martyr in Putian’s revolutionary history.

The Hanjiang Huang Family Residence is the former home of Huang Jixing, head of the Putian Branch of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance. It consists of a front and a rear section. The front section was built during the Ming Dynasty, spanning six bays (26 meters) in width and four courtyards (52.7 meters) in depth. Along the central axis are the entrance hall, inner courtyard, front hall, patio, middle hall, patio, upper hall, and blessing hall. It features a post-and-lintel structure with a flush gable roof and covers an area of 1,600 square meters. The rear section was built in the early Qing Dynasty, spanning five bays (20 meters) in width and three courtyards (31 meters) in depth. Its central axis includes the screen wall, patio, front hall, patio, upper hall, and blessing hall. It has a post-and-lintel structure with a hip-and-gable roof and covers an area of 800 square meters, with the current building area being 620 square meters. Both sections have sturdy beams and columns, exquisite craftsmanship, and are adorned with fine carvings of qilins, phoenixes, flowers, and other patterns. Painted beams and carved rafters abound, with traces of gold lacquer still faintly visible. In June 1993, it was designated as a municipal-level cultural heritage site by the People’s Government of Putian City, and in November 2009, it was listed as a provincial-level cultural heritage site by the People’s Government of Fujian Province.

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Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Provincial-Level Cultural Heritage Sites in Fujian Province