Huang's Garden on Gulangyu

Huang's Garden on Gulangyu

Huang's Garden on Gulangyu is a cultural relics protection unit of Fujian Province.

Huang's Garden on Gulangyu is located on Gulangyu Island in Siming District, Xiamen City, dating back to the Republican era.

Introduction: Built in 1923, it was originally the residence of Indonesian Chinese overseas Chinese Huang Yizhu. It consists of a garden-style villa made up of three two-and-a-half-story Western-style villas in the north, middle, and south. In the 1920s, it was once hailed as "China's No. 1 Villa." The villa covers an area of approximately 4,500 square meters. The courtyard gate is located on both the south and north sides, with the main building facing east and situated in the center, set back more than 20 meters. In front of the building lies a central garden and a fountain pool. The front has two stories, while the back (north side) is at a lower elevation, with an additional floor built under the one-story outer corridor. The main entrance is reached by ascending steps from both sides, and the roof features a large triangular gable. The first floor is surrounded by corridors on all sides, with symmetrical pillar facades; the northern outer corridor protrudes in a semi-circular arc. The north and south buildings are symmetrically distributed on either side of the middle building, about 30 meters apart, sharing the same architectural style—both are two-story Western-style buildings with a semi-underground damp-proof layer, featuring hip-and-valley roofs and rectangular floor plans. A corridor runs through the front and back in the center, with symmetrical wing rooms on both sides, and the buildings are surrounded by continuous arched colonnades. The exterior walls, wall tops, and windows of the three buildings are adorned with numerous plaster decorations of Western-style flowers, louvers, and lavish ornamentation. On both sides of the windows are imitation ancient Greek Corinthian or Ionic cement square or round columns. The north and south buildings differ from the middle building in that their decorative details imitate Western classical architectural styles. The red-tiled hip-and-valley roofs have air vents for light and ventilation on four different sides, and the window lintels, frames, tops, and gable walls feature Baroque-style decorations.

Protected area: Extending east and north to Huangyan Road, and west and south to 10 meters outside the building wall.

In 2018, Huang's Garden on Gulangyu was announced by the People's Government of Fujian Province as part of the ninth batch of provincial-level cultural relics protection units.

More than a hundred years ago in Nan'an, Quanzhou, there was such a magnate named Huang Yizhu. How to describe his wealth and influence? Someone once commented: even if you combined the wealth and social status of today’s Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin, they still wouldn’t match the achievements he accomplished alone.

Huang Yizhu was from Nan'an, Quanzhou. In his early years, his family was poor, and he made a living as a barber. Because he offended a local gentry, he had to flee to Southeast Asia to seek refuge and make a living. Later, he made a fortune in the sugar business in Indonesia and became one of the "Four Big Sugar Kings."

In 1919, Huang Yizhu returned to China with tens of millions of silver dollars and began making large-scale investments domestically.

As we all know, both Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin have been on the list of the world’s richest people. So just imagine how incredibly wealthy someone even more powerful than them would be.

The audacity of unimaginable wealth

Huang Yizhu owned numerous businesses, but the most important among them was his bank. In those times, only three banks had the right to issue currency: Bank of China, Bank of Communications, and Zhongnan Bank.

Zhongnan Bank was owned by Huang Yizhu, who held a 70% stake in it. Owning a bank that could issue currency was no small matter. It’s not hard to imagine just how strong Huang Yizhu’s economic power was.

The saying “wealth breeds extravagance” was thoroughly embodied in Huang Yizhu. In 1919, when Huang Yizhu’s mother turned 74, he chose to hold a grand banquet for her at Zhongde Building on Gulangyu.

At that time, it was still popular to set up a stage and perform operas to celebrate birthdays, and Huang Yizhu naturally didn’t miss out on this form of entertainment. However, the stage he built was a bit different.

Huang Yizhu ordered four large wooden barrels to be placed at the four corners of the stage. Can you guess what these barrels were for? They were actually used to hold silver dollars.

Huang Yizhu spread the word that anyone passing by could take a silver dollar from the barrels as a donation to celebrate the birthday. Once the news spread, people came from all directions, and Zhongde Building was soon surrounded by a dense crowd.

The hardships of starting from scratch

And those silver dollars—if calculated in today’s RMB, each one would be worth around 3,000 yuan.

Huang Yizhu’s extravagant spending is truly hard to imagine, making one wonder just how much wealth he actually possessed. What’s most admirable about Huang Yizhu is that all his wealth was earned brick by brick through his own hard work.

“When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will, exhausts his muscles and bones, exposes him to starvation and poverty, harasses him by troubles and setbacks so as to stimulate his spirit, toughen his nature, and enhance his abilities.”

Huang Yizhu was not born into a wealthy family. On the contrary, in his childhood, his family was very poor, and he had to struggle for a livelihood. At the age of twelve, he followed a barber to learn the trade as a means of making a living.

However, things did not go as planned. He couldn’t even keep this “job” steadily. While giving a haircut to a local gentry, he accidentally cut the man’s eyebrow.

The gentry immediately flew into a rage, claiming that Huang Yizhu had insulted him and vowing to make sure Huang Yizhu could no longer stay in the area. As the saying goes, even a dragon from afar can’t suppress a local snake. Let alone the powerless Huang Yizhu family at the time.

Left with no choice, the family decided that Huang Yizhu should leave to avoid trouble. They even sold a piece of ancestral farmland to exchange for 36 silver dollars to fund his journey.

Huang Yizhu, far from home, endured many hardships. He traveled through places like Singapore, Indonesia, and Central Java, but lacking any other skills, he could only continue working as a barber.

The business genius shows his talent

“Read extensively, and travel far and wide.” Having traveled far and wide, Huang Yizhu’s horizons had broadened considerably, and he gradually realized that continuing to be just a “barber” offered little prospects for the future.

At this time, his attention turned to fellow villagers who were peddlers, and he sensed that this might be a viable path. Thinking quickly, he acted: he borrowed some money from his fellow villagers to set up his own stall and began his peddler career, wandering from street to street.

It must be said that Huang Yizhu was a man of exceptional business acumen. While other peddlers chose commercially bustling areas, he went against the grain—no matter how rugged the mountain paths or how remote the locations, he carried his shoulder pole without complaint and traversed them all.

From candies and coffee to cups and plates, he offered a full range of goods. Coupled with his honesty and fair dealings with both young and old, his reputation quickly grew.

At this point, his boldness shone through. Spotting the right opportunity, he opened his first grocery store, naming it “Ri Xing Pai” (Sunrise Brand).

Thanks to his capable management, the grocery store flourished. Twelve years later, his stores had spread all over Indonesia. By then, he was only thirty years old and had already achieved such remarkable success.

Soon after, World War I broke out. Huang Yizhu seized the business opportunity and began dealing in sugar, rapidly accumulating capital. At that time, his wealth soared, and he was even hailed as the “Sugar King of Asia.”

His name was also included in the “World Directory of Business Notables.” The once impoverished Huang Yizhu had transformed into the business magnate Huang Yizhu.

Returning to China with vast capital to develop his homeland

After World War I ended, the Dutch colonial government suffered tremendous losses and faced severe economic deficits. At this time, the flourishing Huang Yizhu became a thorn in their side.

They tried every means to extract money from him. After much deliberation, they gave Huang Yizhu two choices: one, pay 15 million guilders in taxes to the Dutch government and acquire Dutch citizenship; or two, leave the Dutch East Indies and return to where he came from.

Unintimidated by the Dutch government’s threats, Huang Yizhu immediately decided to liquidate his assets and return to his homeland. So, how much was the total value of the assets he sold at that time?

A staggering one hundred million US dollars—an astronomical figure back then. After returning to his homeland, Huang Yizhu didn’t sit idle; he began new investments to solidify his capital. He also purchased 160 villas on Xiamen Island—truly an extravagant move.

Huang Yizhu not only demonstrated great wisdom in business, setting an example for others, but he was also highly admirable in his personal conduct. After achieving success in his career, he remained deeply concerned about public welfare in China.

Xiamen is an island city, and most of the water on Gulangyu Island was not directly suitable for daily use, posing significant challenges for residents. Recognizing this, Huang Yizhu was determined to do something to improve the quality of life for his fellow Xiamen residents.

He quickly initiated plans for this, first holding a bidding process in Shanghai and establishing the Xiamen Waterworks Company. Later tests confirmed that the water quality provided by the company was among the best in Asia.

Beyond infrastructure, he also placed great emphasis on national education, making generous donations to prestigious universities such as Xiamen University, Fudan University, and Nankai University.

The life of Mr. Huang Yizhu can truly be called legendary. He not only created a business miracle but also demonstrated the spirit of a great scholar and patriot—“the heroism of serving the nation and its people”—a role model for us all.

The broader historical context had a comprehensive impact on the execution of Huang Yizhu’s will:

First, the new Land Law stipulated the confiscation of feudal and outdated institutions such as ancestral halls, making it impossible to realize the part of his will concerning the construction of an ancestral hall.

Second, the industries under his name, aside from real estate, were first subject to public-private partnerships and were eventually nationalized, effectively handed over to the state.

Third, his real estate holdings were divided into those for rental use and those for residential use. Rental properties were also first subject to public-private partnerships before being nationalized. Residential properties were either retained by the Huang family or temporarily borrowed by the government.

In the face of the sweeping tides of the era, Huang Yizhu ultimately dispersed nearly all of his domestic wealth.