A Travel Guide and Historical Exploration of Qianhai West Street in Beijing
Qianhai West Street lies near Beijing’s Shichahai Scenic Area. Starting from Di’anmen West Street in the south, it leads east to the North Bank of Qianhai and west to the northern entrances of Liuyin Street and Longtoujing Street. In the middle, it connects with many hutongs, including Sanqiaqiao Hutong, Zhanzi Hutong, and Qiangan Hutong.
Though it may seem like just another street in Beijing, it harbors a wealth of history. From Qing Dynasty royal mansions and celebrity residences to modern cultural attractions, the passage of time has left distinct traces here.
No.18 Qianhai West Street: The Former Residence of Guo Moruo, a Place of Many Transformations
What you see today at No.18 Qianhai West Street is the Former Residence of Guo Moruo, but this land has a far more complex past.
Initially, it was the front yard of Prince Gong’s Mansion, serving as a forage yard and stable where the mansion raised horses and stored forage. During the Republican period, the descendants of Prince Gong sold this part of the property to the renowned Le family, a family that founded both the well-known Tongrentang and Darentang pharmacies. Though both belong to the Le clan, they are under different family branches and date back to different eras.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the site once housed the Mongolian Embassy in China. It was not until October 1963 that Guo Moruo, a great modern Chinese literary giant and historian, moved here and lived until his passing in 1978. Due to Guo Moruo’s important status in Chinese cultural history, the courtyard was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in August 1982, ensuring its proper preservation and opening to the public.
No.17 Qianhai West Street: The Magnificent Prince Gong’s Mansion
Adjoining No.18 is the world-famous Prince Gong’s Mansion at No.17 Qianhai West Street. The historical scope of the mansion and its garden is roughly defined as follows: bounded by the former Crescent River (now Liuyin Street and Qianhai West Street) to the west and south; by Zhanzifang north of Sanqiaqiao (called Changmenkou during the Qianlong Reign) and Mansion Alley to the east; and by Daxiangfeng Hutong outside the mansion garden wall to the north.
Prince Gong Yixin was bestowed the title of Prince Gong in the first year of the Xianfeng Reign (1851) and moved into this mansion the following year. Yet the mansion has a history predating Prince Gong himself. According to the Records of Shuntian Prefecture, it was originally Prince Qing’s Mansion, whose predecessor was the former residence of Heshen, a powerful minister of the Qing Dynasty. Later, in the Xianfeng Reign, the original Prince Qing’s Mansion was granted to Prince Gong, hence its name “Prince Gong’s Mansion”.
The architecture of Prince Gong’s Mansion is mainly divided into two parts: the mansion proper and the garden.
The mansion proper covers an area of about 33,800 square meters, with a meticulously neat layout arranged along three axes—central, eastern, and western—each consisting of multiple siheyuan courtyards strictly aligned along the axis. At the rear of the mansion stands a 160-meter-long two-story back cover building, behind which lies the beautiful garden.
Named Cuijin Garden, the garden spans about 27,000 square meters. Its pavilions, terraces, towers, rockeries, and lakes are also ingeniously laid out along the central, eastern, and western routes. Renowned for its exquisite architecture, gorgeous decorations, winding and secluded courtyards, and elegant scenery, Prince Gong’s Mansion and its garden have long been rumored to be the prototype of Rongguo Mansion and the Grand View Garden depicted in A Dream of Red Mansions, a great classic of Chinese literature. When visitors stand in Cuijin Garden, climb high and look around, they truly get a wonderful feeling of stepping into the world of A Dream of Red Mansions.
Regarding the preservation of Prince Gong’s Mansion, documents from the Beijing Cultural Relics and Archaeology Team record that before Prince Gong moved in, the mansion was renovated on its original foundation, but many parts still retained the original appearance of Heshen’s time in the late Qianlong Reign. For example, the lotus drum pier-style plinths and internal nanmu decorations in Xijin Study, as well as some brick carvings and flower carvings, all feature the typical architectural techniques of the Qianlong Reign.
The Changes of the Times: From Royal Mansion to Campus
After Prince Gong Yixin passed away in the 24th year of the Guangxu Reign (1898), his descendants continued to live in the mansion. However, in the Republican period, many descendants of the Qing imperial family, plagued by financial difficulties, had to sell their family property. In 1932, Furen University acquired the property rights of Prince Gong’s Mansion. In 1937, to expand its campus, the university converted the mansion and its garden into a girls’school campus and a Theological Seminary.
During this period, to meet teaching needs, Furen University carried out renovations on the original buildings: it demolished the reversed houses in the mansion, the wooden rockery-style stairs of the back cover building, as well as the greenhouse and Flower God Temple in the northeast corner of the garden, and erected new buildings in their place.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Prince Gong’s Mansion was successively used by the Art Normal College and the China Conservatory of Music. In 1952, the siheyuan courtyards in the front yard were demolished and rebuilt into a canteen; in 1959, the houses in front of the mansion were pulled down to erect the Qin Building (Music Building) and Hua Building (Painting Building).
Qianhai West Street Today: A Cultural Landmark Blending the Ancient and the Modern
Today, Qianhai West Street is no longer an exclusive domain of princes and nobles. Every day, it attracts a large number of tourists from all over the world. People flock to Prince Gong’s Mansion to explore the grandeur and luxury of a Qing imperial mansion, and imagine the scenes of the Grand View Garden in A Dream of Red Mansions in Cuijin Garden; they also visit the Former Residence of Guo Moruo to cherish the memory of the life and contributions of this literary giant.
This street carries the profound history of the past eras and fosters the commercial and cultural vitality of the new era, presenting a unique look that blends the ancient and the modern. As an ancient Chinese poem depicts: Swallows that once nested under the eaves of princes and nobles now fly into the homes of ordinary people to build their nests. The magnificent buildings and historical stories that once belonged to a select few have now become a public cultural asset that everyone can approach, understand, and appreciate.
