8.2.2 The History of Lao She’s Residence and Surro...
There are memorial residences of Lao She in Beijing, Chongqing, Qingdao and London.Lao She had also four former residences in Jinan.His earliest residences in Jinan was located in the former office building of Qilu University.During a year he lived here, he created several works including his famous prose Jinan’s Winter, novel Daming Lake.But it was destroyed by fire in 1997.There are two temporary residences where Lao She lived for a few months.One of them has disappeared due to urban transformation, and another one is an apartment in Professor Building of Qilu University.
Figure 8-3.Lao She’s Residence(https://www.daowen.com)
Figure 8-4.Lao She’s Courtyard
From 1931, Lao She and his family lived in Nanxin Street number 58 for three years (Fig.8-3,8-4) where he created several important works.Nanxin Street is a curved north-south alley on the north side of Qilu University.The residence was a traditional Sihe Courtyard, which was originally built with brick and adobe.There were several rooms including a small dark room for storing sundries behind the West wall.The main rooms locate in the North of courtyard including living room, writing room and sleeping room.The rooms in the East were a kitchen and dining room, and in the West were storeroom where an interesting story described in Lao She’s essay occurred.His cat caught a wounded sparrow, turning from the East room to the West room, then rushing into the East room again.Lao She was very anxious to run after the cat to save the sparrow.The room in the Southeast near entrance lived the concierge Mr.Tian and his wife.Lao She wrote numerous famous novels such as Cat City, Divorce, Niu Tianzhi, some essays related to Jinan and several humorous poems in his writing room.At that time, his courtyard was full of flowers and plants.In addition to a large pot of lotus and lilacs, Lao She also kept many potted flowers and a pomegranate tree.There was a well in courtyard.Lao She watered, fertilized his plants and caught insects by himself in his spare time.Every year after spring, flowers blossom, and the courtyard was full of fragrance and colors.Lao She loved to make new friends all his life.Many friends come to enjoy his flowers with admiration.Lao She warmly entertains his friends when they visit here.In 1950, Mr.Xu bought this residence.Due to the leakage and collapse of the roof, Mr.Xu had to renovate the house, turning the roof of the original thatched house into a tile roof with red brick wall house.At the same time, the original screen wall and the second entrance were torn down.But the indoor structure of the house and the original pattern of the courtyard remain basically unchanged.Some original relics including water wells in the courtyard and the partitions in the northern house still exist.In 1981, Lao she’s wife Hu Yuqing and his son Shu Ji visited here.In 1982, more than 70 researchers and Lao She’s enthusiasts came to visited here.Since then, the courtyard gradually attracted public attention.In the late 1980s, this residence was nearly demolished due to urban construction project.After the efforts of public, the residence was preserved.Till now, here is the most well-preserved of the four old residences where Mr.Lao she once lived in Jinan.In 2006, it was listed in the third batch of provincial cultural heritage sites.