Tian'en Di Bureau

　　Tian'en Di Bureau is situated on the north side of the middle section of Xinglong Street in Taonan City, Jilin Province. It was first built in 1903, and its name comes from the "Menghuang Xingju" (Mongolian Frontier Affairs Bureau) granted by Emperor Guangxu of the late Qing Dynasty to the Zhasake Banner. Covering an area of 6,670 square meters, it is a highlight along the ancient architecture street of Taonan. The upturned eaves and classic traditional design of the building still showcase the former glory that the ancient city of Taonan once possessed.

　　In the 27th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1688), descendants of one of the "Three Khans of the Khalkha Mongols" who migrated eastward to Outer Mongolia—the Zhasake Khan—established a tribe on the Horqin Grassland and by the banks of the Tao'er River. To win over the upper echelons of the tribe, the Qing court employed a strategy of "conciliation and appeasement," granting them titles such as "Prince Banner," "Duke Banner," and "Gongye Banner." After 1891, when the Zhasake Duke Banner passed to its twelfth-generation duke, Wutai, disputes arose over the hereditary title, leading to multiple official investigations. Wutai repeatedly borrowed foreign debts which he was unable to repay. Consequently, he unilaterally opened up virgin lands, recruited Han settlers, and embezzled frontier land subsidies, plotting further irregular actions. Later, Wutai defied imperial orders by rejecting the government’s planned "official land release." On the sixth day of the sixth month of that year, the Qing court issued an edict demoting Wutai but allowing him to retain his position to observe his future conduct. It also ordered the establishment of the "Zhasake Menghuang Xingju" (Zhasake Mongolian Frontier Affairs Bureau), opening up the wastelands along the Tao and Jiao rivers, and set up the "Menghuang Xingju" in what is now Zhengjiatun. In the early summer of the 29th year of the Guangxu reign (1903), the "Menghuang Xingju" was relocated to Shuangliu Town. In the autumn of the same year, "Taonan was officially established as an administrative district," and in the 30th year it was "upgraded to a prefecture." The "Menghuang Xingju" was the predecessor of the Taonan Prefecture. With its promotion to prefecture status and the establishment of Taonan as an administrative region, it became a major town in Eastern Mongolia and a hub for commerce and transportation between Fengtian and Heilongjiang provinces. During this period, taking advantage of the opportunity to develop the vast grasslands along the Tao and Jiao rivers, Wutai set up a "Royal Office" in Taonan under the guise of facilitating official duties and trade. This office was responsible for land distribution, taxation, and affairs related to the Mongolian banners, serving as a permanent administrative base in Taonan. Wutai hired master builders who had worked on the Shenyang Imperial Palace, and following the architectural styles and layouts of the Beijing East and West Single Prince Mansions and the Zhongqi Tu Prince Mansion, he oversaw large-scale construction. Spending 40,000 silver dollars, he built a small "Mongolian Prince Mansion" including inner residences and a young lady's garden, on the east side of "Sajigu Post"—the "Shuangyi Warehouse"—along the north side of Xinglong Street. The project took nearly two years and was grand in scale. In the 31st year of the Guangxu reign (1905), the Qing court intended to reinstate Wutai’s Duke title. Under the pretext of rewarding frontier development, it bestowed upon him a nine-foot-long and three-foot-wide handwritten golden plaque inscribed with the four gilded characters "Tian'en Di Bureau," which Wutai hung above the main gate of the bureau, marked with the words "Bestowed by Emperor Guangxu." Henceforth, this royal mansion, publicly known as the "Menghuang Xingju," came to be widely referred to as the "Tian'en Di Bureau."

　　The structure of the "Tian'en Di Bureau" follows a "two-courtyard prince’s office-style" traditional Chinese architectural layout. It faces south and sits on a site that once fronted the bustling Xinglong Street. The front gate has double doors on the east and west sides, with a “golden lion relief wall” in between that conceals the entrance to the second courtyard. The top of the wall features an impressive “golden lions clashing horns” design, while the wall surface bears the bold characters "Tian'en Di Bureau." Flanking the wall are “eight-character horse paths” leading to the central gate. Behind the gate is a landscape screen—a massive painting of the "Xing'an Mountain Range"—that conceals the solemn main hall. The courtyard is primarily a quadrangle-style structure, exquisitely designed, with five hard mountain ridge blue-brick rooms on each of the four sides, topped with small blue tiles in a "goose-wing rolling ridge" style. The eave tiles and ridge ornaments are all "lion-head tiles," echoing the "golden lions clashing horns" atop the wall, creating a unified whole that symbolizes the martial spirit of the ancient Xiongnu, Turkic, and Mongol peoples. Six red-painted pillars stand in front of the corridors, exuding an air of solemnity.

　　Wutai did not enjoy the "Tian'en Di Bureau" for many years after its construction, as he had borrowed too much money from Russian banks and was eventually forced to mortgage it to the Taonan Prefecture to cover his debts. In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), the "Wutai Incident" occurred, and Wutai was dismissed from his post and fled to Kulun (Ulaanbaatar). The Tian'en Di Bureau fell into decline. Although Wutai was later reinstated, he was placed under house arrest by Yuan Shikai and died in Beijing. In the 13th year of the Republic of China (1924), during Feng Yuxiang’s “Palace Coup,” when he drove out the remnants of the Qing court, Wutai’s adoptive father, “Wu Gongye,” was exiled to Taonan and temporarily stayed at the Tian'en Di Bureau. As a result, the site also became known as "Wu Mansion." In the spring of the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), the 9th Panchen Lama fled Tibet and traveled to Taonan, where he conducted Buddhist rituals for 40 days at the Tian'en Di Bureau and had commemorative photos taken while “seated on the throne.”

　　After the liberation, the provincial, regional, and central county governments successively stationed here. Tao Zhu and Yan Baohang once stayed and worked at the Tian'en Di Bureau. Before the Korean War, the central county committee of the “Southern Eight Counties” of Heilongjiang Province (now the Baicheng Regional Committee) and the People’s Liberation Army Public Security Corps were also based here. Until the end of the Cultural Revolution, the Tian'en Di Bureau served as the headquarters for Taonan’s agricultural, forestry, water conservancy, and other “eight major bureaus.” After the Cultural Revolution, the Science and Technology Museum purchased the Tian'en Di Bureau and carried out minor renovations. Over eighty years, through wars and turmoil, apart from the demolition of the "double-gate screen wall" in the front courtyard and the occupation of the back garden for housing construction, the site has endured with relatively minor damage and remains well preserved.