Dayi Liu Family Manor

Dayi Liu Family Manor

The Dayi Liu Family Manor is a National AAAA-level Tourist Attraction and a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Liu Family Manor is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit, one of China's important historical sites and representative buildings from modern times, and a microcosm of semi-feudal, semi-colonial rural society in China.

With over 20,000 existing cultural relics and collections, a vast and well-preserved manor building complex, along with a large number of physical objects and documentary materials preserved on the estate, combined with its uniquely characteristic manor displays, it forms an organic whole. This makes it an important site and physical setting for understanding and researching China’s semi-feudal, semi-colonial socio-economic and cultural architecture, as well as the history of Sichuan warlords and folklore. It serves as a microcosm of rural China in the old society and a cross-section of China’s social development history.

In 1965, at the original rent collection scene of the manor’s owner Liu Wencai, sculptors combined traditional Chinese sculpture techniques with modern Western sculptural art. Using a method of typified creation, they produced the internationally renowned, highly unified masterpiece of super-realistic sculpture — “Rent Collection Courtyard.” This work, which exhibits a profound integration of ideological and artistic values, has had far-reaching and extensive influence both domestically and abroad since its public exhibition.

The Sichuan Folk Customs Museum within the estate, along with the newly opened “Young Lady’s Building” and other attractions, offer rich content and unique architectural styles, making it an important place to understand the national conditions and folk customs of old China.

The museum houses over 2,700 cultural relics, including 15 first-grade items. Among them is a set of Qing Dynasty rosewood furniture inlaid with marble tabletops and chairs. The set includes eight chairs, each standing 108 cm tall, 99 cm wide, and 60 cm deep, inlaid with 27 multicolored precious stones, surrounded by mother-of-pearl floral patterns.

The old manor is an irregular polygon, surrounded by over six-meter-high fireproof brick walls. Seven grand gates stand tall, with niches on both sides of the gates. Inside, there are 27 courtyards, over 180 rooms, and three gardens. The Old Mansion was built in 1932 by Liu Wencai after he forcibly occupied the homesteads and fields of 23 farming households. Each time Liu drove away one or several families, he would build a wall, open a gate, and construct a house. The manor is crisscrossed with thick walls and narrow alleys, featuring heavy doors with iron locks, secret rooms, and hidden passages. Its layout is chaotic and foreboding, making the entire manor resemble a dark, maze-like structure.

The Old Mansion serves as the main exhibition area. The basic display consists of four interconnected sections: the Introductory Hall, the Workers’ Courtyard, the Liu Wencai Rent Collection Scene, and the large clay sculpture “Rent Collection Courtyard.” The New Mansion is arranged with an exhibition on Sichuan folk customs.

Highlights include a three-story “Young Lady’s Building” inside the manor, also known as the “Embroidery Tower,” which features exquisite architecture and a unique style.

Introduction: The Liu Family Manor was originally the private residence of the landlord Liu Wencai and is currently the best-preserved feudal landlord manor in China. The manor consists of two large architectural complexes facing each other from north to south, covering an area of more than 58,000 square meters, and was built from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republican era. The southern complex, known as the Old Mansion, was initially constructed in 1931, with a construction area of 10,000 square meters. The entire manor complex includes 27 courtyards, over 180 halls and living rooms, three gardens, and seven manor gates. The northern complex, the New Mansion, was built in 1938 and represents a modern manor building that blends Chinese and Western styles. The museum displays a large number of physical objects and documentary materials. The super-realist sculpture masterpiece “Rent Collection Courtyard,” created in 1965, has had profound and widespread influence both in China and internationally.

Protected Area: A boundary of 20 meters outside the current perimeter wall.

Construction Control Zone: With the protected area as the boundary, it extends 200 meters east of the New Mansion’s eastern gate, 100 meters behind the Old Mansion (Rent Collection Courtyard)’s back gate, 30 meters to the south, follows the An (ren)–Xin (jin) Highway to the west, and reaches 50 meters outside the New Mansion’s perimeter wall to the north.

Transportation

Located 52 kilometers southwest of Chengdu in Anren Town, Dayi County, Chengdu Bus Station offers daily buses to Dayi.

Address: No. 15, Jingui Street, Anren Town, Dayi County, Chengdu City

Type: Celebrity Former Residence Museum

Rating: AAAA

Ticket: 40 RMB per person.

Free Admission Policy: Children under 16 years old are free when accompanied by an adult; seniors aged 70 and above, people with disabilities, and active-duty military personnel are admitted free with valid ID.

Discount Policy: Students over 16 and seniors aged 60–70 receive half-price admission with valid ID; other discounts are subject to announcements by the scenic area.

Recommended Visit Duration: 2 hours

Phone: 028-88319959

Opening Hours: 9:00–17:00

Liu Wencai (Han ethnicity, 1887 – October 17, 1949), courtesy name Xingtíng, was a native of Anren Town, Dayi County, Chengdu, Sichuan, in western Sichuan. He was a notorious local landlord and the elder brother of warlord Liu Wenhui.

Liu Wencai was born in 1887 (the 13th year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty) in Liujia Dunzi, Anren Town, Dayi County, Sichuan Province. Because of his oppressive behavior and numerous misdeeds in the local area,

he was referred to by locals as “Tiger Liu.”

In 1921, when his younger brother Liu Wenhui became a brigade commander of the Sichuan Army stationed in Yibin, Liu Wencai was successively appointed as the Director of the Yibin Branch of the Sichuan Tobacco and Liquor Company, the... (Liu Wencai Detailed Information++)

Liu Wenhui, Chairman of Xikang Province, Deputy Director of the Sichuan-Kangding Pacification Office, Commander of the 24th Army, and Commander of the Xikang Military District, held the rank of Lieutenant General with the honors of a General. He was a patriotic military leader and one of the warlords of Sichuan. Throughout his military and political career, he exhibited great ambition and endured many perilous moments. In his later years, he returned to a quiet life and taught his descendants, “Politics is meaningless.” As an enlightened gentry, he consistently demonstrated a high level of political awareness. During the land reform period, he once declared at a public meeting, “I used to be a major landlord, but now I will unconditionally and without reservation distribute all my land to the peasants.”

Liu Wenhui, 18... More details about Liu Wenhui++

Anren Town: Anren Town has a long history. As early as the third year of the Wu De era in the Tang Dynasty (620 AD), Anren County was established (50 years before Dayi County was founded), under the jurisdiction of Qiongzhou in the Jiannan Circuit. According to the "Taiping Huanyu Ji," it was named after the meaning of “the benevolent find peace,” and its county seat at that time was located where Anren Town stands today. It got its name from being the site of the ancient “Anren” county government. It wasn’t until the 21st year of the Yuan Dynasty (1284 AD) that the Anren County administration was abolished, and its territory was incorporated into Dayi County. Before liberation, Anren was known for having “three armies, nine regiments, and eighteen battalions,” producing numerous military and political figures such as Liu Wenhui and Liu Xiang.

Zhonghua... More details about Anren Town++

Further Reading:

· China's National Third-Class Museum

· Fourth Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level