Shijia Garden (Exhibition Hall of Xu Beihong’s Former Residence)

Shijia Garden (Exhibition Hall of Xu Beihong’s Former Residence)

Shijia Garden (Exhibition Hall of Xu Beihong’s Former Residence) is a Chongqing Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Xu Beihong’s former residence in Chongqing is located at No. 98, Dashiba, Jiangbei District, dating back to the years 1942–1946.

Shijia Garden (Exhibition Hall of Xu Beihong’s Former Residence) is located at No. 1, Yujia Village, Shimen Community, Dashiba Subdistrict, Jiangbei District, Chongqing. In 1931, Shi Rongting, former president of the Chongqing Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Eastern Sichuan Charity Association, bought the land around Jiangjiayan (now Panxi River) in the Shimen area and began constructing a building and garden that combined Chinese and Western styles. It was named “Peiyuan” or “Panshi Book House,” but locals commonly referred to it as the Shijia Villa. The garden is an integrated structure of Chinese and Western architectural styles, encompassing calligraphy, stone carvings, garden design, and architecture. It faces from southeast to northwest, covering an area of 2,000 square meters, and consists of four parts: the main house, courtyard, servants’ quarters, and underground stone room, with a total construction area of 1,912 square meters.

After Xu Beihong came to Chongqing during the war, Shi Rongting, who had a great appreciation for literati and artists, offered him a two-story building adjacent to his own courtyard. During the War of Resistance against Japan, Xu Beihong and his wife Liao Jingwen lived and worked here for over four years until they left in 1946. During this time, Xu established the research-oriented “China Academy of Fine Arts,” created numerous outstanding works such as “The Water Carriers of Ba People” and “The Poor Woman of Ba People,” and actively participated in China’s democratic activities. He made indelible contributions to the development of art education in China. In 1986, Shijia Garden was listed as a Jiangbei District Cultural Relics Protection Unit, and on October 30, 1996, it was designated as a Chongqing Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Xu Beihong (1895–1953), of Han ethnicity, originally named Xu Shoukang, was from Qiting Town, Yixing City, Jiangsu Province. He was a modern Chinese painter and art educator. He studied Western painting in France and, after returning to China, long engaged in art education, teaching at the Art Department of the National Central University, the Art College of Peking University, and Peking Art School. After 1949, he served as the president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Skilled in figure painting, animals, and flowers and birds, he advocated realism and especially admired Ren Bonian in traditional art. He emphasized reforming Chinese painting by incorporating Western techniques, stressed the importance of light and form in painting, and focused on accurate anatomy and skeletal structure of subjects... More details about Xu Beihong++