Former Residence of Huang Zunxian (Renjing Lu)

Former Residence of Huang Zunxian (Renjing Lu)

The Former Residence of Huang Zunxian (Renjing Lu) is a cultural relic protection unit of Guangdong Province.

The former residence of Huang Zunxian, a patriotic poet of the late Qing Dynasty, is named “Renjing Lu,” which takes its meaning from a line in Tao Yuanming’s poem: “I built my hut in a zone of human habitation, yet near me there sounds no noise of horse or coach.” It is located by Zhouxi Creek, three kilometers east of Meizhou City, and was built in the spring of 1884. The three characters “Renjing Lu” on the lintel were written by Japanese calligrapher Daiku Naruse Atsushi.

The cottage grounds include a flower garden, rockery, fish pond, Five-Step Tower, Ten-Step Pavilion, Resting Pavilion, Seven-Character Corridor, Wall-less Tower, Rainbow Leaning Pavilion, and a library. With winding paths, carved railings, and flowers and trees providing a secluded setting, the scenery is refined and elegant. In his later years, Huang Zunxian lived in seclusion at Renjing Lu, where he composed a large number of poems and personally selected and compiled them into the collection Renjing Lu Shicao.

In 1980, the local government carried out a comprehensive restoration of Renjing Lu. In 1985, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Huang Zunxian’s death, people from all walks of life in Meizhou gathered at Renjing Lu to unveil a white marble statue of him. The site is now listed as a key cultural relic protection unit of Guangdong Province.

Transportation: Take bus No. 1 or No. 3 and get off at Faming Bridge, then walk north to reach the site.

Ticket / Opening Hours: 15 RMB

Meizhou City, Guangdong Province

Huang Zunxian (1848–1905), courtesy name Gongdu, also known as Master of Renjing Lu, was a native of Jiaying Prefecture, Guangdong (now Meixian District). He came from a bureaucratic family. He began learning poetry at the age of 10. In the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1867), he passed the xiucai examination. In the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873), he was awarded the title of Bajiangsheng and went to the capital the following year to take the provincial imperial examination, though he did not pass. Huang Zunxian’s early poems already displayed a certain spirit of innovation. He criticized the tendency in literary creation to imitate the ancients blindly, as reflected in the saying “abandoning the dross of the ancients while drooling over their works,” declaring instead that “my hand writes what my mouth speaks—how can the ancients constrain me?” He also collected and refined Hakka mountain songs... More details about Huang Zunxian ++