Tianjin Zhuangwang Mansion

　　Situated at No. 82 Baidi Road, Nankai District, Tianjin, Zhuangwang Mansion was originally the family temple of Li Chun, the Jiangxi warlord of the Beiyang government. It is one of the largest surviving antique-style buildings in the city. It is a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit and a key historical building under Tianjin’s protection. Research shows that it was originally the Zhuang Prince’s Mansion in Beijing, built in the authentic style of a royal mansion. As the only ancient architectural complex outside Beijing with Qing imperial characteristics, it is known as the “Little Forbidden City of Tianjin” or “Tianjin Zhuangwang Mansion.”

　　Under effective preservation, after more than a year of restoration, today’s Zhuangwang Mansion scenic area covers nearly 20,000 square meters. It maintains the standard Qing official architectural style of “blue bricks, green tiles, and red gates,” featuring from south to north a large screen wall, a front garden, and a three-courtyard quadrangle.

　　Tianjin’s “Zhuangwang Mansion” is positioned with a focus on royal mansion-themed tourism, supplemented by intangible cultural heritage displays and performances, along with highlights such as series exhibitions on mansion culture, real-scene performances of royal life, traditional Chinese folk weddings, and interactive recreational activities.

　　According to the planning scheme, this cultural tourism scenic area is spatially divided into five parts: the forecourt space (main gate and garden), First Courtyard, Second Courtyard, Third Courtyard, and green belt. Among them, the mansion garden covers nearly 9,000 square meters in an imperial garden style.

　　Walking up the high steps from the side of Baidi Road, the first thing that comes into view is a spacious courtyard. Large halls face each other from north to south in the center, flanked by slightly smaller east and west wing rooms. Winding corridors extend deep into the rear courtyard. The square bricks on the ground remain intact, some polished shiny by frequent foot traffic. In the corners near the walls, patches of lush green moss have climbed up the bases over time. Looking up, the green glazed tiles on the halls are neatly arranged along the ridges, while the ridge beasts—such as the large zoomorphic ornaments, vertical beasts, and running beasts—at both ends stand guard serenely in their eternal positions. Their sense of duty seems to have remained unchanged despite the passage of time.

　　According to Wei Kejing’s research, this Li Chun Ancestral Hall was designed to face south, so the main entrance should begin from the screen wall at the southern end of the residence. “Many people think the entrance at the southeast corner on Baidi Road is the main gate, but that’s incorrect.”

　　“Although the buildings of the Li Chun Ancestral Hall are all styled as a royal mansion, the layout was reversed during its reconstruction. The original Zhuangwang Mansion, like other royal mansions, should have had the residence first and the garden afterward. But the Li Chun Ancestral Hall did the opposite—it placed the garden at the front entrance, and the other four courtyards (originally four, though the last courtyard has since been replaced by modern buildings) were built after the garden. This is also one reason why some assume the front gate is the main entrance.” The Li Chun Ancestral Hall took 10 years to build, covering 25,600 square meters with a rectangular layout. It consists of a garden, screen wall, stone memorial archway, stone arch bridge, main gate, front hall, middle hall, rear hall, side halls, and corridors. The entire structure is brightly colored, with blue tiles and red railings, presenting a magnificent sight.

　　Although the screen wall of the entire structure remains, it is now obscured by later-built bungalows, making its original appearance unclear. Only the two stone lions guarding the gate still sit there. Touching the smooth stone lions, Wei Kejing told reporters: “These two lions date back to the Ming Dynasty—they were likely inherited when the Zhuangwang Mansion took over the residence of Liu Jin. Who would’ve thought they’d end up in Tianjin centuries later?” Mr. Wei Kejing said the first-generation Zhuang Prince was a close brother of Nurhaci. After the Manchu army entered the pass, the Zhuang Prince’s Mansion was once the residence of Liu Jin, the powerful eunuch of the Ming Dynasty.

　　Passing the memorial archway at the entrance, behind it lies a stele-bearing turtle (bixi), and further inside stands the Hall of Eminent Favor. There is no horizontal inscribed board above the gate, making it easy to overlook. To admire the plaque reading “Baobingli” (meaning “Presiding over Soldiers”), you must look upward. Among the stone-carved beasts on the roof ridge, one stands out—the suanni, a mythical creature with a lion-like body and a curly tail. It is squatting low, its body almost touching the beams, a position rarely seen in architecture. Most such creatures are placed higher up, but this one is positioned unusually low, leading some to speculate it may have been placed there due to height restrictions. Today, the plaque is missing, leaving people to wonder why, though no definitive answer exists.

　　Beyond the garden lies an unassuming small bridge, slightly arched, with a narrow moat for the estate still visible beneath. Crossing the bridge leads to the main gate of the Li Chun Ancestral Hall. Just as you’re about to casually walk across, Wei Kejing stops you. “Do you find anything special about this little bridge?” he asks. “Nope!” You look left, right, up, down—the bridge still seems very simple. “You’ve seen the Golden Water Bridge in front of Beijing’s Tiananmen Gate, right? This bridge here is designed just like that—it’s actually a scaled-down ‘Golden Water Bridge.’ In the past, only the palace gate could have such a bridge; having one at any other residence was prohibited.”

　　Fortunately, the Li Chun Ancestral Hall was built after the Republic of China era; otherwise, its builder might have faced execution. The grandeur of Li Chun’s construction here likely reached the ears of high-ranking officials, and it’s said that even Yuan Shikai inquired about the matter. Perhaps due to pressure from Yuan Shikai, Li Chun publicly referred to it as his family’s ancestral hall rather than admitting it was his private residence.