Former Residences of Cultural Celebrities at Xiangyang Lake

Former Residences of Cultural Celebrities at Xiangyang Lake

The Former Residences of Cultural Celebrities at Xiangyang Lake is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Former Residences of Cultural Celebrities at Xiangyang Lake are located in Xiangyanghu Town, Xian’an District, Xianning City. The site mainly includes the 57th Area, Kiln Factory Area, Hongqi Area, and Xiangyang Area, covering a total area of approximately 78,000 square meters.

In September 1969, the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China established the “57th” Cadre School at Xiangyang Lake (formerly known as Guanyang Lake) in Xianning, Hubei. It was divided into five major sections: the Ministry of Culture headquarters, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Writers’ Association section, the Publishing section, the Cultural Relics section, and the Film section. Over 6,000 cultural figures served as students at the school. Among them were 174 renowned individuals celebrated both nationally and internationally, such as Xie Bingxin, Feng Xuefeng, Shen Congwen, Yan Wenjing, Zhang Tianyi, Zhang Guangnian, Chen Bichen, Zang Kejia, Li Ji, Feng Mu, Xiao Qian, Meng Chao, Hou Jinjing, Guo Xiaochuan, who all labored and lived here.

The site includes 144 buildings, consisting of brick-and-tile bungalows built by the cadre school students themselves, “rammed-earth” adobe houses, as well as kilns for firing bricks and tiles. Additionally, there are three bridges designed and constructed by the students themselves: Hongqi Bridge, 57th Bridge, and Xiangyang Bridge.

The Former Residences of Cultural Celebrities at Xiangyang Lake bear witness to a unique era and hold significant historical value.

In May 2013, the State Council (State Council Document [2013] No. 13) designated the Former Residences of Cultural Celebrities at Xiangyang Lake as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Xiangyanghu Town: Xiangyanghu Town covers an area of 104.2 square kilometers, comprising 18 villages, two neighborhood committees, 159 villager groups, 4,148 households, and a population of 2,709. The arable land area is 3,257.5 mu (including 22,687 mu of paddy fields), forested land spans 37,326 mu, and water areas cover 48,346 mu.

In recent years, Xiangyanghu Town has intensified efforts in agricultural restructuring. It has developed a thousand-mu nursery and flower base, a thousand-mu high-tech vegetable base, a 3,000-mu poplar base, a 3,000-mu intensive aquaculture base, a 3,500-mu fish and crab polyculture base, and a thousand… More details about Xiangyanghu Town++

Further reading:

· Fourth Batch of Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units