Chongben House

 

 

 

Chongben House (崇本堂) situates very near to Changqing Bridge, Fuguan Street, Tongli Town in Wujiang, south of Suzhou city. The house's gate faces the riverbank. If Tongli is regarded as an ancient architectural museum, Chongben House must be a great artwork in this museum. Its exquisite handicrafts and profound connotations will make people gasped in admiration.

The owner of Chongben House was Qian Youqin (钱幼琴), she was a Tongli local. In 1912, she bought some parts of the Gu's Family Mansion and hired workers to renovate them. The houses we see today are positioning along a middle axis and going inwards such as Door Hall, Main Hall, Front House, Rear House and Kitchen. They are quite small but so compact and refined layout.

The most admirable things in Chongben House are various kinds of carving. When walking in the courtyard, you see bizarre rockeries accompanied by a maple tree forest, forming delightful contrast. Sculptured gate stands at the north of the courtyard. The upper part of the gate frame has eye-catching rafter design and tiny dragon patterns. A granite bar is used for a threshold. The bolt of the gate is called "Yellow Wolf Box". You can also see bas-relief "A Carp Jump over the Dragon Gate", which represents the wish for power and wealth. Of course, you will notice the four Chinese characters "崇德思本" (chong de si ben, which means esteem highly the moral values and bear in mind one's family root), incarnating the importance of family value in Chinese people's mind.

The architectural structure is quite scientific that there is a fire prevention wall built in the space between the Main Hall and the Front House. "Crab's Eye Parvises" are on the both sides of the corridor and door hall. They have ventilation, lighting, drainage and fire prevention functions. They are narrow and dark so that during the Anti-Japanese War (1937 – 1945), the Japanese army did not dare to enter, fearing to be caught by ambush of Chinese forces.