Huangshan Offcial Residence

A Brief Introduction to Huangshan Official Residence

Huangshan Official Residence is located at the No.23, Huangshan, Nan'an District of Chongqing. It covers an area of 1000 square meters. Huangshan Official Residence lies among the steep mountains and sequestered valleys, surrounded by lush pines and cypress and taking on a beautiful scene. It was once the official residence for Jiang Jieshi, the leader of Kuomintang and the important place for official business when Chongqing was the second capital during the wartime..

Background of the Huagnshan Official Residence

In the early 20th century, the residence was a private villa of a wealthy businessman. In 1938, the Japanese invaders implemented strategic bomb to Chongqing. In order to avoid being bombed and to escape the summer heat, the retinues of Jiang Jieshi chose Huangshan to be the official residence for Jiang Jieshi and his wife, Song Meiling.

Famous Attractions of Huangshan Official Residence

Jiang Jieshi lived in the Yunxiulou while Song Meiling lived in the Songting. Yunxiulou is a three-storied building combining both the Chinese style and Western style, and Jiang Jieshi lived on the second floor. Songting is a row of bungalows with broad corridors and the luxurious pines around it. By the roadsides between the Yunxiulou and the Dongting are several air-raid shelters which were used to protect Jiang Jieshi and Song Meiling when the Japanese invaders attacked Chongqing suddenly.

Not far from Yunxiulou is a Chinese-styled bungalow with straw-covered roof, thus it is named "Caoting (Straw Pavilion)". In 1945, general Marshall-the special envoy of American president Truman was sent to Chongqing to settle the Kuomintang-communist dispute. He lived in the Caoting for a period. On the hill southeast to the Yunxiulou, the Yunfenglou was built. It was built by Song Meiling for his sister Song Qingling, but Song Qingling had never lived in it.

Songting was built on the flat man-made ground between the two peaks according to the terrain. It was built with bluestones into a 25 meters long and 20 meters wide rectangle. It is in the style of Chinese and Western fusion. There are 3-meter-wide winding corridors on the front, right and left surfaces of the bungalow. The corridors are paved with flat and smooth pinewood floor connected to the floors inside the rooms. They must be the place for enjoying the coolness in summer nights and basking in winter.

Songting got its name because of the lush green pines around it. What is the pity is that most of the pines had been destroyed in the ten years Cultural Revolution. In recent years, many peach trees and plum trees are planted there. In spring, the peach flowers and plum flowers blossom, taking on a beautiful picture of pink and fragrance.