Ha’er Lane 98 is located in Xiacheng District, at Ha’er Lane, and is an ancient residence with a Ming and Qing Dynasty architectural style. The residence, originally constructed during the Qing Dynasty, features a typical Jiangnan layout, a three-room wooden and earthen structure with five sections of horse-walking buildings, and a double-story corridor-style architecture. Upon pushing open the wooden door of No. 98, one finds a skywell, flanked by left and right wing rooms, leading to the living room. The living room and the back hall are structured as two-story buildings. Ascending to the upper floor is a narrow and steep wooden staircase, adorned with ice crack pattern railings, and the upper story of the horse-walking building features a concave-shaped railing. Exiting the back hall leads to a small skywell, entirely paved with stone slabs. On both sides of the skywell are two-story wing rooms, and in the center of the skywell stands an old well. The structure of the backyard is essentially the same as the front yard, with an ancient well on the side of the yard that is said to have year-round water, known as the ‘Song Well’. The main building of the horse-walking building is interconnected from top to bottom, allowing one to move around without an umbrella or galoshes even in the rain. The ancient residence has three windproof and fireproof walls, and stone gates on the upper floors for theft and fire prevention. The interior uses ‘heartwood from fir trees’, which is both hard and resistant to lightning, insect infestation, and deformation. Doors and windows, lacking glass at the time, utilized translucent river clam shells as materials for sun protection, wind blocking, and light transmission, a unique and rare design. The eaves of the second floor, constructed with bluestone slabs, are even rarer. The interior of the ancient residence boasts wood carving art from the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, reflecting the ethnic styles of these periods. The doors, walls, and corridors are all decorated with bat, Bagua, and longevity woodcarvings. There are also full relief carvings, semi-relief carvings, and hand carvings, all exquisitely crafted and uniquely shaped. The living room features a row of eight floor-to-ceiling doors and windows, adorned with carvings of landscapes from Shaoxing’s Jiangnan, the land of fish and rice, including small bridges over flowing water, river boats, cormorant fishing, and literati playing chess, all exquisitely beautiful. The ancient residence is currently inhabited by Mr. Qian Xiyao. This ancient residence was the homestead of the Southern Song Dynasty’s patriotic poet Lu You. Lu You’s ‘Weinan Collection’ indeed records his residence in Ha’er Lane, and the famous verse ‘A whole night in the small pavilion listening to the spring rain, in the deep alleys the next morning selling apricot blossoms’ was written in Ha’er Lane. The entire text is open from Tuesday to Sunday: 9:00-16:30; closed on Mondays.
Ha’er Lane
Ha’er Lane 98 is located in Xiacheng District, at Ha’er Lane, and is an ancient residence with a Ming and […]
