Yuan Family Courtyard

Yuan Family Courtyard

The Yuan Family Courtyard is a cultural tourism attraction.

[Yuan Family Courtyard] During the late Qing Dynasty, Yuan Nai-kuan, a native of Lao Yuanzhai in Dayangzhuang, Lyuhe Township of our county, gained great favor and rapidly rose in status due to claiming kinship with Yuan Shikai. During Yuan Shikai’s tenure as the President of the Republic of China, Yuan Nai-kuan took control of the nation’s financial authority. In the first year of the Republic, leveraging his power, he seized Zhanggangzhai in the northeast of the county town, renamed it Yuanzhai, invested huge sums of money to purchase over 1,300 acres of land, dug rivers and built a fortress, and undertook large-scale construction to create residential compounds. It is said that the architecture of Yuanzhai was modeled after the palaces of Beijing, consisting of an outer fortress and an inner fortress—the outer serving as the commercial district and the inner as the residential area. Unfortunately, the Yuan Family Courtyard was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Currently, ruins remain and can still be vaguely identified.

The former site of the Yuan Family Courtyard is located in Yuanzhai Village, Yuanzhai Township, Zhengyang County. Built in the late Qing Dynasty, the site still retains three brick-and-wood side rooms covered with small gray tiles. The beams are in the shape of a “工” character, formed by tenoned round logs of varying diameters. Some blue bricks bear the characters “Fu” (blessing), “Lu” (prosperity), “Shou” (longevity), and “Xi” (happiness), while some tiles are imprinted with the swastika symbol, which is clear and exquisitely crafted—witnessing the century-long rise and fall of the Yuan Family Courtyard.

Lyuhe Township: I. Basic Information

Lyuhe Township is located 9 kilometers south of Zhengyang County Town, bordering Shen Shui to the north, Tongzhong to the south, and adjacent to Xinxian Dian, Yongxing, Pengqiao, and Lanqing townships to the east and west. Provincial highways Kai Gong Road and Que Ping Road run from north to south. The township administers 15 administrative villages, 255 villager groups, has an agricultural population of 29,300, and covers 81,793 mu of arable land, boasting rich agricultural resources.

II. Features and Highlights

1. Water Resources: There are three main watercourses and one small reservoir within the township, offering abundant and unpolluted water resources.

2. Vegetable Cultivation: … Lyuhe Township detailed information++