The Ding Family Residence is located at No. 137, Donglai Street, in the northwest of Huangcheng, Longkou City, Shandong Province. It is the residence of the Xiyuelai branch of the world-famous "Ding Baiwan" family. The founder of the Xiyuelai branch was Ding Fazu. It was built during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty and covers an area of 15,000 square meters. [1]
The Ding Family Residence consists of Aifu Hall, Lusu Hall, Baosu Hall, Chongjian Hall and Shufang Garden, a private garden in the Qing Dynasty. The main building is finely crafted and made of exquisite materials. It is decorated with five ridges and six beasts; partition doors and windows, carved beams and painted buildings, painted with gold, and equipped with front and back corridors. The Ding Family Residence is the essence of residential architectural art.
On November 20, 1996, the Ding Family Residence was announced by the State Council as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
The Ding Family Residence was built during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. The founder of the Xiyuelai branch was Ding Fazu, who had two sons and seven grandsons. The residence has more than 800 rooms. In the 17th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1891), his seven grandsons each established their own family and divided the mansion into seven parts, commonly known as the "seven parts". Only four of them are still in existence. [1] The seven parts of Xiyuelai have a total of more than 800 houses, among which the third, sixth and seventh parts are the most luxurious. Unfortunately, they were all demolished during the "Great Leap Forward" in 1958 when factories were built. The remaining four parts, the Ding family's former residence, are less than one-tenth of the size of the Ding family's mansion. [1]
Ding's former residence
In 1985, the Huang County (the county was abolished in 1986 and Longkou City was established) government took back the Ding family's former residence and established the Huang County Museum here. [1]
In 1993, under the auspices of the Longkou City Museum, the surveying and mapping of the Ding family's former residence was completed. On this basis, since 1996, the Longkou Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government have successively studied and formulated plans for the protection and utilization of the Ding Family Residence during the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" and the "Tenth Five-Year Plan", and reported them step by step. More than 3.5 million yuan was invested in the restoration of the Ding Family Residence and the reconstruction of the Ding Family Residence's garden, Huifang Garden. [1]
Ding Family Residence
Architectural Layout
The Ding Family Residence covers an area of 15,000 square meters, with 243 houses and a construction area of 4,800 square meters. The entire Ding Family Residence is now divided into two areas, east and west, by a North Lane and West Street: the east area is the Aifu Hall and Lusu Hall, which are located in parallel in the north and south, both facing east and west, 85 meters long from north to south and 49.8 meters wide from east to west, with a central axis symmetrical quadrangle layout, a total of 5 courtyards. The west area is the Chongjian Hall and Baosu Hall, which are located in parallel in the east and west, facing north and south, a total of 4 courtyards. It has a wooden frame structure, a hard slope roof, and the roof is covered with fish-scale green tiles. The main building is finely crafted with exquisite materials and decorated with five ridges and six beasts; it has partition doors and windows, carved beams and painted buildings, painted with gold, and has front and back corridors. [1]
Floor plan of Ding's former residence
Main buildings
Aifu Hall
Aifu Hall, whose owner is Ding Baodian, is the largest of the original "Seven Large Portions" and was built around the 25th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1760). The main entrance faces east, with 6 main buildings with 33 rooms and 7 wing buildings with 15 rooms. The road surface on the central axis is paved with granite, and the other roads are paved with black stones. The first courtyard has 6 inverted halls and 5 living rooms, with double eaves and corridors, and partition doors and windows. From the second courtyard, to the west are the bedrooms of the elders, middle-aged and youngest generations, called the first residence, the second residence and the third residence, with a corridor in front of the first residence.