Ningbo Part Two

cctv.com 08-11-2004 10:43

In today's travelogue, we will bring you to Fenghua, the hometown of Chiang Kai-shek.

Whatever Chiang Kai-shek's position in Chinese history, there's one fact that's indisputable nowadays that he's become the biggest selling point for the tourism in his hometown 鈥fenghua near Ningbo.

Naturally, the first place you should visit at Xikou is Fenghao House, the former residence of Chiang Kai-shek.

Born in 1887, Chiang left home for military school at the age of 17 and spent the rest of his life pretty much away from this tranquil little town. Between the many ups and downs of his political career before 1949, Chiang came back here frequently to recoup energy.

The house is a typical traditional residence of the wealthy families in south China. There are altogether 49 rooms and two courtyards in the compound.

The ancestral hall, Baobentang was decorated with many exquisite wood carvings and stone carvings based on Chinese folklores.

The old residence of Mr. Chiang was just a small house, the one with three small rooms. After he became the leader of Chinese Nationalist Party, he came back to his hometown and expanded the whole place into an old style complex of over 4800 square meters. And there were some pretty good interesting stories behind the building of this place.

It is said that Chiang came back to Xikou in 1929 and bought up nearby properties to rebuild his family house. One of his neighbours, Mr. Zhou, was reluctant to move and complained that Chiang has forgotten his childhood pal now that he became the president of the Nanjing Nationalist government. In the end, Chiang decided not to touch Zhou's property. So, one corner of the complex was still Mr. Zhou, his neighbor's property.

As to the narrow staircase, it is said that it was built by Mr. Chiang Kai-shek for his mother, in the memory of his mother; because his mother had those small wrapped feet, so it's really hard for her to walk those staircases. So Mr. Chiang built the staircases that way she can use these as the walking sticks to get to the top of the house.鈥

Chiang Kai-shek was known as a dutiful and obedient son to his mother. His father died when he was only seven, it was his mother who single-handedly brought him up.