Text: No. 1 Xueyuan Lane Photo: HEPING

In most texts introducing ancient residential buildings in Heshun Ancient Town, Tengchong, Yunnan, the "Liu Family Courtyard" will be mentioned. But upon further exploration, most of them are unclear. Enter "Liu Family Courtyard in Heshun Ancient Town" on the Gaode map, but you can easily find the red mark of "Liu Family Courtyard". If you want to find out for yourself, you can go uphill from Yinjiapo in the northwest corner of Yaya Lake, and walk along the narrow "middle alley" in the middle of the three-fork alley for about 100 meters. When you look up, you will see the large characters on the roof of the building in front of you. The plaque reads "Tingyu Tower".

Combined with the old house on the left, this building is the Liu Family Courtyard, which is famous for its "Jingzhuan".

The Liu Family Courtyard is said to be the largest residential courtyard in the ancient town. It used to cover an area of ??1,300 square meters and has an elegant and magnificent architecture. It is known as "a model that integrates overseas Chinese culture and traditional Chinese architectural aesthetics". Researchers can also regard it as a gentle history of architecture and culture.

The Liu family is one of the eight major local surnames. Not far from the Liu Family Courtyard, there is a beautifully scattered ancient building by the Yeya Lake. The Liu Family Ancestral Hall is one of the eight major ancestral halls in Heshun. Heshun architecture and folk culture can be seen from it.

According to research, the Liu Family Courtyard was built by brothers Liu Jinzhong and Liu Jinliang in the early years. Liu Jinzhong once did business in Myanmar and opened "Hengyu Cloth Shop", which dealt in cloth, miscellaneous goods and other businesses and became rich from it. It is well documented that the compound was built in the early years of the Republic of China and completed in 1932. Although it was the Republic of China at that time, it was a well-established and large family, and most of the buildings were modeled after the Qing Dynasty style. Since it is a large family, the compound has both an old house and a separate courtyard, which is composed of two parts.

The old house has two horizontal courtyards, two entrances to the left courtyard and three entrances to the right courtyard, which are connected to each other. The house is tall and spacious, and consists of a gate, garden, hall, main house and other parts. The building materials are also unambiguous, using high-quality catalpa wood. The window grilles throughout the courtyard are the highlight. Each window in each courtyard is different and can be left to the students of the Design Department of the Academy of Fine Arts to study in detail. Looking at the pillars and beams, they are decorated with exquisite wood carvings, which are beautiful and made by skilled craftsmen.

The Liu Family Courtyard*** has four courtyards, each with a square patio, built according to the pattern of "three rooms and one screen wall". It is said that its style comes more from Huizhou architecture, but it incorporates Western architectural elements. For example, the Western-style flower bed in the house. According to descendants of the Liu family, you could see opera troupes singing in the "backyard" from the flower terrace. If a banquet was held, there could be more than a hundred tables.

The stone base of the screen wall in the courtyard is straight and solid, with fine masonry work. The locals call it "Qingshui stone base". Interestingly, there are still traces of black and white Western paintings left by the original owner on the walls of the patio, showing the fashion and aesthetics that the ancient town once had, and also showing how Eastern and Western cultures were combined here. Walking in the courtyard is still the elegance of Chinese literati, with the fragrance of orchids blowing against your face and the curved shadows slanting. The descendants of the Liu family did not renovate the old house and maintained the simple and elegant style of the courtyard.

The other courtyard of the compound is separate from the old house, shaking hands and facing each other on both sides of the alley. The courtyard has green brick cornices, a combination of Chinese and Western styles, and a turret with a horse-drawn turret. It is said that when the grass and trees in the garden were flourishing and the persimmon flowers were blooming and bearing fruit, the eyes were full of splendor.

The word "big" in the Liu Family Courtyard fully expresses its grandeur at that time. But then again, “there are great difficulties.” It is said that such a large house now requires a lot of money just to maintain it. Later generations once opened the yard to the public, allowing tourists to pay a small fee to visit inside and make up for the temporary hardship. Looking closely at some old photos from that time, one can’t help but feel that the courtyard is a bit desolate and dilapidated.

How many such buildings still need to be cared for in Heshun Ancient Town? The proposition of how to protect the outstanding architectural heritage of the ancient town was put forward. This is a headache for everyone. There have been countless seminars and experts have given countless suggestions, but in the end who will answer this question?

Perhaps this is the turning point that the Liu Family Courtyard should encounter. In recent years, Hong Kong collector Mr. Liu Heming has been looking for a livable place, and the shadow of a century-old house looms in his mind. Domestic and foreign, all over the country, look for it. Eventually, Tengchong and Heshun entered his journey.

The first thing I like is the climate and environment here. Once you arrive in Heshun, the simplicity and elegance of the town, as well as the atmosphere of human fireworks, are even more alluring. Walking through the streets and alleys, after many comparisons, the "Liu Family Courtyard" fell in front of us like a meteorite falling from the sky. Coincidentally, this is another "descendant of the Liu family" who now meets the Liu family compound.

Liu Heming said that the "harmony" of Heshun, the "harmony" of Heming, and the "harmony" in the couplet "One gate and three lanes produce harmony" on the alley gate coming up from Yinjiapo, The three "harmony" converge. Could it be a lucky number?

In this way, Liu Heming negotiated with the descendants of the Liu family and rented the Liu family compound. He said, firstly, it is personal preference, and secondly, what stories can be told in this ancient building?

Maybe I want to answer the question of how to protect old buildings. He began to rebuild the old house. After all, he is a collector, and he restores it as if it were old. But his oldness makes the old house glow. The century-old plaques and couplets he collected from various places, as well as the stone carvings in the styles of past dynasties, are embellished with twists and turns, and the place where he writes is hidden.

How to give old houses new functions and missions? Liu Heming remembered the three words "harmony" that were destined to him in life, and founded "Sanhe Art Museum".

He slightly renovated the courtyard and built it into an art gallery that still looks traditional on the outside but is modern on the inside. There are three exhibition halls on the first floor, which can display small art exhibitions; a patio can arrange small activities such as artist talks, lectures and even theatrical performances. On the second floor, there is an artist center with several guest rooms that accept artist-in-residence creations.

The third floor is a cafe and bar. It is located high up, with the breeze blowing on your face, where you can meditate and have a panoramic view of the ancient town and the hazy distant mountains. He hung a horizontal plaque "Tingyu Tower" upstairs, which is his inner scenery.

The art gallery must have exhibitions. Interestingly, perhaps in order to match the modern style of the museum, the first exhibition, in cooperation with the Guangdong Art Photography Society, arranged a modern-style photography exhibition by Guangdong photographer Yang Heping. The main content is "Paris Old Street" Cafes and bookstores”. The black and white photos on the wall form a strong contrast with the simplicity of the exterior of the exhibition hall, which makes tourists passing by the alley look out and wonder, "Huh? There is such a fashionable exhibition in Heshun Ancient Town?"

The first exhibition to open in 2021, the "painting style" suddenly changed, which is probably the "dramatic effect" deliberately arranged by Liu Heming. It is the painting exhibition "Qi Hong on Horseback" by the painter Qi Hong, a Chinese painting and line drawing in one color. Qi Hong, a painter who graduated from the Mural Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, has profound skills and his paintings also enjoy international reputation. He has been associated with horses since he was a child, and he writes freely and freely. Upon closer inspection, the pictures are intriguing and full of his personal story.

Liu Heming said that the art museum is based on the local area and faces both domestic and overseas. We hope it can become an influential cultural landmark and brand for Tengchong and Heshun. He plans to regularly exhibit the works of domestic and foreign artists in the future and organize various cultural and artistic display and sharing exchange activities. At the same time, we collect and represent artists' works to promote the exchange and trade of artworks.

There is another wonderful place in the Liu Family Courtyard. Enter the old house, step up the narrow stairs, and go up to the second floor, which is the "Ancient Jade Museum".

The feeling of stepping on the floor reminds me of those century-old houses I walked through in Germany. The wooden floors creaked, the beams overhead were criss-crossed, and the outdoor light filtered through the unique window grilles. , fell indoors. The indoor display cabinets are all collected by Liu Heming. These ancient jades and various cultural objects from the Neolithic period to the late Qing Dynasty are simple and unpretentious. They say nothing under the spotlight, but they show their past glory. Some brilliance, it turns out, do not need words.

Liu Heming said that the museum has not yet been officially opened to the public, and a lot of work is still being done, but some people have already made reservations to visit.

Coming out of the middle alley, not far ahead is Lijia Alley. Although the middle alley is narrow, it is a main thoroughfare from the bank of Yeya Lake to the town. After passing the old house and the other courtyard of the Liu Family Courtyard, turn right at the "See You or Be Seen" cafe and you will find the lively Lijia Alley. There are restaurants, cafes, teahouses and various boutique shops lined up one after another, as well as the morning market. It is a harmonious life of people, and the sounds and sounds of the market are all crowded into your senses.

In Heshun Ancient Town, many old buildings have been transformed into inns and B&Bs, and century-old teahouses and taverns are also welcoming tea guests from afar.

Things are like chess, and it may be difficult to predict the future of the Liu Family Courtyard in a few words, but Liu Heming has used his own efforts to renovate and utilize the old buildings in the ancient town with the "Sanhe Art Museum" (museum) It is a flag, but at least it adds color to the cultural flags of the ancient town. It is known that because of the name of the art museum and artist center, artists from Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and all over the country have come to exhibit or create, and Heshun has become their exhibition and creation base. There are even singers, recitation artists, and guqin players performing in the museum. The shaping power of culture, although not moment-to-moment, is the influence that creates a place all the time. From this point of view, even if the story of the Liu Family Courtyard is an attempt, it cannot but be said to be original and unique, and a valuable "experiment" in the transformation of an ancient town.

(2021/1/10)