Hongjitang West Branch

Hongjitang West Branch

Hongjitang West Branch is a cultural relic protection unit of Shandong Province.

Hongjitang West Branch is located at No. 281, Jinger Road, Wuligou Subdistrict, Huaiyin District, Jinan City. Originally built in the 1920s, the existing structure consists of a south-facing business hall and a north office building enclosing an independent courtyard. The complex faces south with a width of 14.5 meters from east to west and a depth of 24.9 meters from north to south, covering a total area of 361 square meters. The south-facing building serves as the business hall, spanning 14.5 meters from east to west and 11.5 meters from north to south, covering a ground area of 167 square meters and a total construction area of 334 square meters. It features a brick, stone, and timber structure with a hip-and-gable roof tiled with large tiles. The gable parapets on both the east and west sides are fitted with parapet walls, and the south facade has six symmetrically arranged wall buttresses. Above the main entrance hangs a plaque inscribed with the characters “Hongjitang.” Inside the hall, there are large counters, traditional Chinese medicine storage racks, wooden square tables, screens, and other wooden furnishings. The north-facing building has a second floor with a front corridor, measuring 14.5 meters from east to west and 5.3 meters from north to south, covering a ground area of 76.8 square meters and a total construction area of 170 square meters. It also has a brick, stone, and timber structure with a flush gable roof covered with gray tiles and walls made of blue bricks. Near the southern wall at the base of the corridor, there is a carved dragon wood ornament. In February 2008, Hongjitang West Branch was relocated, and a new Jinan Hongjitang Museum covering over 300 square meters was constructed between the north and south buildings.

Hongjitang is a time-honored Chinese brand and was historically ranked among China’s “Three Famous Pharmacies,” alongside Beijing Tongrentang and Hangzhou Huqingyutang. From 1907 to the 1920s, Le Jingyu established three business outlets in Jinan: the flagship store, the West Branch, and the Central Branch of Jinan Hongjitang. While the flagship store and the Central Branch have been demolished, the remaining Hongjitang West Branch is the only surviving outlet, bearing witness to the development of Jinan’s commercial district and possessing significant historical, artistic, and scientific value. On December 18, 2003, it was registered for protection by the Huaiyin District Bureau of Culture. On October 10, 2013, it was designated as a fourth batch provincial-level cultural relic protection unit by the Shandong Provincial Government.

Source: People’s Government of Huaiyin District, Jinan City

Wuligou Subdistrict: The Wuligou Office is situated in the central area of Jinan’s century-old commercial district old city zone, in the northeast corner of Huaiyin District. It borders the Daguanyuan Office of Shizhong District to the east and the Baohua Street Office of Tianqiao District to the north. Its boundaries are Jinger Road to the north, Jinger Road to the south, Weiwu Road to the east, and Weijiu Road to the west, covering an area of 0.71 square kilometers. It governs four community residents' committees and one family committee. The area is home to seven ethnic groups: Han, Hui, Manchu, Korean, Zhuang, She, and Tujia.

The jurisdiction has 12,129 permanent resident households with a population of 30,296, including 5,381 people aged 60 and above, accounting for 17.7% of the total population... Detailed information about Wuligou Subdistrict ++

Further reading:

· Fourth Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units