Zhenliu Mansion

Released on:2006-10-25

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The 1930s Shanghai saw a popular rise of apartment buildings and the Zhenliu Mansion was considered the top class. The building is shaped like a try square, with main entrance facing north and the hall way connected with both south and north entrances. There is a lift, mailbox and service desk in the hallway.

The mansion got its name from the book New Collection of Anecdotes of Famous Personages. It is of the Spanish style, with a parapet wall on top and cylindrical tiles on the roof. Covering an area of 3,944 square-meter garden and lawn with large rocks and running water which, added by a swimming pool in the basement, may explain the meaning of the building's name "resting the head on the flow."

The rooms in the mansion are spacious and equipped with complete up-to-date facilities, that's why it was regarded as the "celebrated building in Shanghai" in the 1930s. Zhenliu Mansion was originally the residence of the manager of Taixing Bank but was purchased by Li Hongzhang's family before long. Later Li's son, Li Jingmai inherited the building. Li Jingmai once served as ambassador to Austria, and then circuit surveillance official to Jiangsu, Henan and Zhejiang, and later he went on an inspection tour to Europe and Japan. After the 1911 Revolution, he lived in Shanghai. Not willing to stay in loneliness in his mid 30s, he had a close association with the old veteran official of the late Qing Dynasty and the organizations that tried to restore the dethroned monarch. In 1917 after Zhang Xun failed in his attempt at the restoration of the monarch, Li Jingmai lived in the house in seclusion.

Later, Zhou Xuan, a wellknown film star referred to as a "Golden Voice," lived here from 1932 till 1957 when she finished her life tragedy. Xu Zhucheng, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Wen Hui Bao; famous Shaoxing opera performers Fu Quanxiang, Fan Ruijuan and Wang Wenjuan all lived here. Because many intellectuals used to live here, the place was ransacked by the Red Guards during the "cultural revolution." At that time the rebel factionists rushed in and out of the place to search the house and confiscate the residents' property, and the shourts of criticism and denouncement at public meetings could be heard all the time. As a result, Ye Yiqun, an art and literature theorist, and the seal-carving artist Wu Putang committed suicide here.

From the first floor to the fifth in the mansion, there are two-room flats and three-room flats, each furnished with a bedroom, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. The four-room flat even has a south-facing balcony, fireplace and bigger bathroom. The 6th and 7th floors are of the compound type and five flats are designed as suite, with the family members and servants coming and going through different doors. Such a layout was rarely seen in Shanghai at that time.

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