Prison Cell of the Young Heavenly King Hong Fu Yin of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Osmanthus Blossom House)

Prison Cell of the Young Heavenly King Hong Fu Yin of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Osmanthus Blossom House)

The Prison Cell of the Young Heavenly King Hong Fu Yin of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Osmanthus Blossom House) is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangxi Province.

In the third year of the Tongzhi reign (1864), Tianjing (Nanjing) fell. The Young Heavenly King Hong Tianguifu (eldest son of Hong Xiuquan), under the protection of the Ganwang Hong Rengan and others, led the remaining forces of the Taiping Army southward. On October 9, while passing through Yangjiapai Gulingnao at the border between Guangchang and Shicheng, they were ambushed by the Qing army under Xi Baotian. On October 23, the Young Heavenly King was captured by the Qing army and subsequently imprisoned in the flower hall of the Osmanthus Blossom House. At the beginning of the month, he was escorted to the provincial capital and on the 28th, was executed in Nanchang by Shen Baozhen, the governor of Jiangxi. This Hakka-style residence shares many coincidences with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: a time coincidence — the house was built in 1851 and completed in 1864, aligning with the uprising and fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; a location coincidence — the uprising began in Huadu, the capital was established in Nanjing (Stone City), and the movement ended in Shicheng; a person coincidence — the five horse-head walls of the residence coincide with the five Taiping kings who met their fate in Shicheng. The Young Heavenly King once wrote a poem on the southern wall of the side room with a brush: “Ambition to repel the barbarians unfulfilled, seventy years of Miao resistance hard to plan; stepping through clouded mountain paths, gazing at the autumn moon hanging empty over the sea.”

The Osmanthus Blossom House is the only well-preserved Hakka residence in the county and is a typical representative of Qing-era Hakka architecture, reflecting the unique building culture of the Hakka people. The structure is made of brick and wood, with a flush gable roof, featuring a three-courtyard, two-wing layout, including a central courtyard, rear main house, side wings, front yard, and a door lintel inscribed in intaglio regular script with the characters “Yong Huai” (Everlasting Remembrance) and the date “Xianfeng Xin Hai Year” (1851). The house was built by Huang Xingcun, a wealthy local merchant from Shicheng, covering an area of about 1,500 square meters with over 70 rooms, divided into three sections: front hall, middle hall, and rear hall, flanked by side rooms. The entire complex is magnificent, with tall walls and deep courtyards, making it a classic example of Hakka residential architecture that has been relatively well preserved. The downfall of the Taiping kings, led by the Young Heavenly King, in Shicheng marked the complete end of the 14-year-long Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement. This has made the Osmanthus Blossom House a physical witness and repository of historical information about this significant period. Its preservation holds great importance for the study of the later revolutionary struggles of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangxi Province