Fengshun Jianqiao Wei

Fengshun Jianqiao Wei

Fengshun Jianqiao Wei is located in the northwest of Jianqiao Township, Fengshun County. Originally part of the Jianqiao Fort under Jiaying Prefecture, it was built during the Longqing era of the Ming Dynasty (1567–1572) by Zhang Qianfu, the regional military commander, as a defensive enclosure against bandits. Covering an area of 15,780 square meters, the main houses are built with bricks and tiles, and the brackets and beams in various halls feature exquisite and rustic carvings. The entire building is constructed with white hemp stone as the wall foundation and rammed earth using sand, stone, and lime. The surrounding walls on all four sides are 0.3 meters thick and inlaid with stone-carved gun ports. Wooden platforms are erected inside the gates for defense. Each gate is embedded with a stone plaque inscription: the east gate “Prosperity in the East, Strengthened Defense,” engraved in the 8th year of the Jiaqing reign (1803); the west gate “Western Model,” inscribed by Lin Sen and rebuilt in the 29th year of the Republic of China (1940) through donations by Zhang Jianchu, who served as a Ministerial Official; the south gate “Breezes from the South”; and the north gate “Stars Surrounding the North.”

The architecture of the entire enclosure retains the simple style of traditional Hakka buildings, characterized by an outer round shape and inner square layout. Surrounding the enclosure are winding ponds and ditches, giving it the appearance of a large boat floating on water when viewed from afar. Residential houses are built along the inner walls and are all constructed with flush gable roofs. There are three streets, twelve lanes, and twenty-one buildings, currently housing over 1,300 residents. There are nine ancestral halls, built according to the nine characters “Dongbi Tushuku, Xiyuan Shilin” (meaning “Books in the Eastern Library, Scholars in the Western Garden”). Among them, the well-preserved ones include Baotai Hall, Guangtai Hall, Qiantai Hall, and Shude Hall. In front of Baotai Hall and Guangtai Hall, eight flagpoles and two flagpole stands from the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong, Jiaqing, and Daoguang reigns are preserved. These were erected by descendants of the Zhang family from the 15th to 18th generations. Some ancient calligraphy and paintings, as well as a collection of Qing Dynasty handicrafts, are still retained among the residents within the enclosure.

Near the west gate, there is a two-story reinforced concrete building constructed in 1937, the 26th year of the Republic of China. It was built by Zhang Jianchu, a overseas Chinese from Thailand who had participated in the Xinhai Revolution and served as a guard for Sun Yat-sen, for his family. Outside the east gate, there is a ten-hall-nine-courtyard residence, said to be the home of a martial arts scholar surnamed Zhang during the Qing Dynasty.