Former Site of the Research Department of the Central Political School

Former Site of the Research Department of the Central Political School

Former Site of the Research Department of the Central Political School: The Peng Family Residence, also known as the Peng Family Compound or the Peng Rui Chuan Manor, is located in Baihe Village, Nanquan Town, Banan District, and currently sits within the campus of Chongqing Zhengda Software Vocational Technical College. Originally built in the second year of the Daoguang reign during the Qing Dynasty (1822), it features an “instrument”-shaped quadrangle complex consisting of upper, middle, and lower halls along with two-story buildings, comprising 77 rooms of various sizes, 12 courtyards, and 10 corridor-style smaller quadrangles. The building covers a construction area of 3,860 square meters and occupies a site area of 5,320 square meters. The entire compound faces west and is situated eastward. The front hall is a single-eave, flush-gable wooden structure with a through-tenon system, spanning three bays (10.15 meters wide) and 5.8 meters deep, with a total height of 6.4 meters. The middle hall is a single-eave, hanging-gable wooden structure with a through-tenon system, spanning three bays (13.9 meters wide) and 10.5 meters deep, with a total height of 7.8 meters. The rear hall is a single-eave, hanging-gable wooden structure with a through-tenon system, spanning five bays (22.9 meters wide) and 10.3 meters deep, with a total height of 7.2 meters. The entire compound is enclosed by brick and stone walls or firewalls that rise 5–7 meters high. The rooftops are covered with small blue tiles, and the floors are paved with bluestone. It features a scientifically designed drainage system. In 1939, the residence became the Research Department of the Nationalist Central Political Institute. In 1940, Liren Middle School was founded here. In 1946, the Chinese Communist Party’s Southern Bureau established the Southwest Academy on the site. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it was taken over by the Southwest Revolutionary University. From 1953 to 2002, it successively housed Chongqing No. 27 Middle School, Sichuan Province Chongqing Nanquan Vocational Middle School, Chongqing Rongquan Vocational Senior High School, and Chongqing Nanquan Vocational Senior High School. In January 2002, the property rights were transferred to the Banan District Cultural Relics Protection Management Office of Chongqing. In 1992 and Document No. 83 [2000] issued by the Chongqing Municipal Government, the Peng Family Residence was designated as a Chongqing Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit. The Peng Family Residence is one of the better-preserved ancient residential buildings in the Chongqing area and is also a high historical, artistic, and scientific value site from the wartime capital period of the War of Resistance.