The You Family Residence in Wenyu Alley

The You Family Residence in Wenyu Alley

The You Family Residence in Wenyu Alley is a cultural heritage site protected by the Fujian Provincial Government.

The You Family Residence in Wenyu Alley

Located on the southern side of the eastern section of Wenyu Alley in the Gulou District, it was built during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty and was renovated during the Daoguang era and the early Republican period. The residence faces north and is enclosed by walls on all sides. The main building has three courtyards, and the flower hall is situated to the east of the main building, also consisting of three courtyards. Both have back doors leading to Fengjingying, one of which is at No. 2 Fengjingying.

The original main gate was a six-panel wooden door, which was later modified into an eight-panel brick gate by the You family in the early Republican period. Upon entering, there are corridors on three sides surrounding a central courtyard. The first courtyard’s hall is three bays wide and two bays deep, with a double-sloped roof and a post-and-lintel wooden structure. The doors, partition screens, windows, and latticework of the side rooms are all exquisitely carved from nanmu wood. The brackets and square hanging ornaments feature intricate carvings. The second courtyard is structured similarly to the first, particularly notable for the four-panel nanmu doors on the side rooms, which are carved with over 100 different patterns including pine and crane, ganoderma, vases, peonies, jade tripods, ruyi scepters, incense burners, bats, dragons and phoenixes, and longevity peaches. The third courtyard has been modified, and the back door leads to Fengjingying. You [surname] was one of Fuzhou’s wealthiest businessmen in the commercial sector, owning many properties in Wenyu Alley, which was even referred to as “Youfeng Street.”

The flower hall is located to the east of the main building. The two residential blocks are adjacent and originally accessible through the main building. In the 1950s, when it served as dormitories for the provincial public security department, the connecting door between the two blocks was sealed off, and a new entrance was created on the north side of the flower hall, forming an independent courtyard. In the 1960s, the flower hall was converted into a two-story building. Only a large rockery remains, most of whose rocks have been removed. The lower level contains a rockery cave over 10 meters deep, with walls made from a mixture of glutinous rice paste and lime, keeping it cool in summer and warm in winter, and featuring a winding, dimly lit interior. The upper level still has a rockery terrace, on which stands a shrine dedicated to the deity Zhaotianjun. The rockery covers an area of over 100 square meters. The fish pond in front of the rockery has been filled in, and in its place lies a large incense burner carved from bluestone, originally belonging to the You family. It measures 88 cm in width, 71 cm in length, and 74 cm in height. The front is carved with twin dragons playing with a pearl, the sides with auspicious clouds and lucky grasses, and the legs of the burner with two small dragons.

Nanjie Subdistrict: Nanjie Subdistrict is located in the central-western part of the Gulou District. To the east, it borders Dongjie Subdistrict along Bayi 7th North Road; to the south, it faces the foot of Wushan Mountain and neighbors Antai Subdistrict; to the west, it extends to Xiaoliu and Henan Xincun, connecting with Hongshan Town; and to the north, it is bounded by Hujie Road, Xian South Road, and Yangqiao Road, adjacent to Huada Subdistrict and Guxi Subdistrict. It covers an area of 1.56 square kilometers, with 16,000 households and a population of about 50,000. The subdistrict office is located at No. 28 Huangxiang. In 2000, the area had 338 collectively-owned enterprises and 1,147 individual businesses. It includes the communities of Wenyu, Nanjie, Taxiang, Nanhou, Anmin, Mingshan, Yi... More details about Nanjie Subdistrict ++