There on Tongren Road is a graceful villa. It is residence no. 257 which has a 2494 square meters' area and a garden area of 2276 square meters. It once belonged to Shi Liangcai, a magnate of Shanghai newspaper circles, who was the chief editor of Shen Newspaper.
Residence of Shi Liangcai is a graceful villa with an area a garden of 2494 square meters and a garden of 2276 square meters, and worth the compliment of "elaborate works by the marriage of Chinese and Western styles". The corridors, handrails and design of windows of Chinese style embodied the design's originality. The indoor arrangement of this residence was stately and elegant, which displayed Shi Liangcai's inimitable taste as a magnate of the press circles.
After the September 18th Incident enkindled by Japanese aggressive troops against China in 1931,Shi Liangcai was discontent with Jiang Jieshi's non-resistant policy so he reported according to the facts the loss of the Three Northeastern Provinces of China due to Jiang's nonresistance. He also published comments on those current affairs, coming out with a slogan of "fighting to the last ditch to protect the country and the nation."In December of 1932, Song Qingling, Cai Yuanpei and Lu Xun initiated Human Rights Defence Alliance (HRDA). Shi Liangcai supported them to a great degree and called the press to fight shoulder to shoulder with HRDA and to terminate the autarchy of fascism,resulting in incurring Jiang Jieshi's resentment and hate. During the move of defending human rights, Shi Liangcai started using Li Gongpu to be charge of the press, to hold flow library and remediation schools. Aiming at Japanese aggression, Shi Liangcai invited about 20 people from the industrial and commercial circles and literary circles to form a "Renshen Club" (Renshen is the name of a year by the traditional way of recording years) in his mansion, i.e.no.257 on Tongren Road. This club talked about current affairs, discussed on corresponding countermeasures and tried to use newspaper fully as a propagating weapon to enhance the morale of resisting the exterior enemy with joint effort. On January 31st, 1932, non-offical local celebrities of Shanghai founded"Local Managing Association of Shanghai Citizens" and Shi Liangcai shouldered the post of president for his general respectable reputation.
On November 13th, 1934, on his way back to Shanghai from Hangzhou, Shi Liangcai was assassinated by Kuomintang spies. He was 54 at that time.