Former Residence of Suyu

The Former Residence of Suyu is located in Fengmu Village, Pingcun Town, in the southern part of Huaihua City on the southwestern border of Hunan Province. It is about 8 kilometres from Huitong County seat and merely 0.5 kilometres away from National Highway 209, enjoying highly convenient transportation.

The old residence was constructed during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (Note: the text records 1851－1861, the Xianfeng reign). It consists of two large courtyards, the East Courtyard and the West Courtyard, covering an area of roughly 1,000 square metres with more than 30 rooms of different sizes. A village path and a small brook run between the two courtyards.

The East Courtyard on the right side of the brook is the main dwelling where the family lived. The West Courtyard on the left side is a row of houses facing east. The northernmost building served as the reception hall for receiving guests, hosting banquets and running a private school. The middle rooms were lodgings for farmhands, while the southern end housed cattle and horse stables.

Only the main building of the East Courtyard remains today, occupying 416 square metres. Facing northwest from the southeast, it is composed of three two-storey wooden buildings: the front hall, the main hall and the side barn tower. The front hall is arranged in a triangular "pin" shape. Between the front hall and the main hall lies a straight courtyard skywell. Together they form the Chinese phrase "Yipin", meaning First-Class Rank, carrying profound symbolic meaning.

The entire complex adopts the traditional column-and-tie timber frame structure with three bays. The buildings feature exquisite carved beams, painted rafters and upturned flying eaves, fully embodying the distinctive ethnic architectural style of western Hunan.

In January 1996, the Former Residence of Suyu was designated as a Hunan Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Unit by the People’s Government of Hunan Province. In July 2010, the Former Residence of Suyu together with the Memorial Hall was officially named a Hunan Provincial Patriotic Education Base by the Publicity Department of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee.