Former Residence of Zhang Xue Ming

　　    The former residence of Zhang Xue Ming is located at No. 50 Munan Road, Heping District, Tianjin. Built in 1925, it is a two-story courtyard-style residence. The building in the front is the main house, where the owner lived and dined, while the one in the back served as servant quarters and included a family classroom.

　　    Zhang Xue Ming was the younger brother of Zhang Xueliang and served as the mayor of Tianjin before the liberation. He was also widely recognized as a gourmet with deep knowledge of various Chinese cuisines. His residence was exquisitely designed. The main house is a sloped-roof Western-style building with purplish-red bricks on the exterior facade and luxurious interior decorations. The first floor includes a hall with a heated corridor and flower room, which connects to guest bedrooms, a dining room, a pantry, a kitchen, bathrooms, and a staircase. The second floor has bedrooms, a reception room, and two bathrooms. The hall features stained glass skylights to allow ample natural light. In front of the house is a garden filled with lilacs and surrounded by wisteria all year round.

　　

　　Zhang Xue Ming (1908~1983)　　    Zhang Xue Ming (1908–1983), courtesy name Xiqing, was from Haicheng, Liaoning. He was a patriotic democrat and a Lieutenant General in the Nationalist Army. He was the second son of Zhang Zuolin and the younger brother of Zhang Xueliang. He graduated from the Northeastern Military Academy and in 1919 from the Japanese Infantry School, where he once served as a military attaché trainee at the Japanese embassy. He returned to China in 1929 and served as the Chief of the Tianjin Police Bureau and later as the Mayor of Tianjin. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, he lived in Europe, the United States, and Hong Kong. In 1941, after the fall of Hong Kong, he returned to mainland China. In 1943, he briefly accepted a position as a member of the Military Committee under the Wang Jingwei regime. After the victory in the War of Resistance, he was not prosecuted and served as an advisor in the Advisory Office of the Northeast Commander-in-Chief’s Office under the Nationalist Government, as well as a deputy advisor in the Northeast Administrative Office’s Advisory Office... Details+