Wu Han’s Former Residence

　　   Wu Han’s Former Residence is situated in Kuzhutang Village, Shangxi Town, Yiwu City. It was the home of the late eminent historian Wu Han, constructed by his father, Wu ?jue, in 1924. The structure is a brick-and-wood building featuring a front-corridor style courtyard layout, covering an area of 463 square meters. The residence faces south and is five bays wide, with a total width of 20.72 meters and a depth of 11.4 meters, offering a construction area of 440 square meters. The entire building has an overall "concave" shape, laid out symmetrically along the central axis, with two stories. It consists of a main hall, side rooms, two wings, and a garden. The central bay of the main hall is open, while the secondary and corner bays are partitioned with wooden panels. The main entrance wall and enclosing walls directly face the gable wall of the side bays, where a stone-framed door opens to the outside. The second-floor eaves corridor is enclosed with Western-style balustrades featuring vase-shaped railings. The baluster tops, capitals, and small panels are all carved with intertwined floral patterns. The side rooms are symmetrically arranged on the left and right, each with doors at the front and back that connect to the corridor and the southern garden, respectively. A courtyard is enclosed in the center, paved with long stone slabs, with a bluestone pathway leading straight to the garden. The outer gable wall of the courtyard has a centrally positioned main gate. The decoration of the main gate features a blend of Chinese and Western styles: it has a round arch-top blue stone frame, brick pilasters, and conical-topped pillars on both sides. Above the frame is a blue stone plaque inscribed with “Former Residence of Comrade Wu Han,” written by - Comrade, adorned with painted butterfly and floral motifs. The gable walls of the side rooms have stepped corbels at the front eaves, composite curved firewalls, and dragon-patterned water spouts. The southern facade of the entire building incorporates decorative elements of Western-style architecture, reflecting the characteristics of structures from the Republican era. Outside the gable wall lies the garden, centered around a bluestone path, enclosed by walls made of decorative perforated bricks, with a circular arched gate on the southern side. Currently, the main hall of Wu Han’s Former Residence displays a portrait of Wu Han, flanked by an elegiac inscription written by Liao Mosha in memory of his dear friend. The first-floor side bays exhibit items once used by Wu Han in this residence, such as bookshelves, a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. The side rooms showcase photos depicting Wu Han’s life and achievements. The second floor mainly displays materials covering various phases of Wu Han’s life, along with his major works, correspondence, and reproductions of his handwritten manuscripts. The inner courtyard walls feature a bluestone stele inscribed with an elegy for the Biography of Wu Han, written by Chairman Peng Zhen. In 1984 and 2002, the residence underwent two rounds of renovation. In 2005, it was designated as a Zhejiang Provincial-level Cultural Relics Protection Unit. On the winter solstice of 2005, a cenotaph for Wu Han was built on Ku Mountain in Kuzhutang Village, Shangxi Town, his hometown. It is a sunken-style tomb, topped with a black marble gravestone personally inscribed by -. Behind the tomb lie commemorative pebble tombs for his father, Wu Wenzhai, and his younger brother, Wu Chunxi. Wu Han’s Former Residence is a key cultural relic protection unit in Zhejiang Province and also serves as a patriotic education base in Yiwu City.

　　Wu Han (1909~1969)　　   Wu Han (1909–1969) Originally named Wu Chunhan, he was a native of Yiwu, Zhejiang Province. He was a member of the China Democratic League and the Communist Party of China. In 1934, he graduated from the Department of History at Tsinghua University and stayed on as a faculty member. He served as the editor of the historical column for Yishi Bao, editor-in-chief of the Democratic Weekly for the Yunnan branch of the China Democratic League, and professor at Yunnan University and the National Southwestern Associated University. After 1949, he held positions including Deputy Director of the Tsinghua University Administrative Committee, Head of the Department of History, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Director of the Beijing Cultural and Educational Committee, Vice President of the Beijing Sino-Soviet Friendship Association, Vice Mayor of Beijing, Member of the Philosophy and Social Sciences Division of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Secretary-General and Vice Chairman of the All-China Youth Federation, and... More+