Fengyu Yin Clan Native Patrol Inspector’s Old Residence Museum

In the spring of 1639, the geographer Xu Xiaoke walked along the stone-paved Daguan Road into Fengxiang Village. He spent seven days as a guest of Yin Zhong, the eleventh-generation Native Patrol Inspector of Fengyu. The wood-and-mud North Yard where they met stands as the Fengyu Yin Clan Native Patrol Inspector’s Old Residence Museum, opened on May 21, 2022.

For over 530 years, spanning the Ming, Qing, and Republic of China eras, nineteen generations of the Yin family managed this frontier outpost. Their administrative legacy survives in the heavy timber frames and thick mud walls of this century-old Bai courtyard. Visitors can feel the rough-hewn chisel marks on the wooden pillars, left by local builders who shaped this ancestral office.

On the second floor, the museum displays over a hundred historical objects. In the quiet rooms, the faint scent of aged pine and damp earth lingers over displays of hand-woven Bai clothing, heavy iron agricultural tools, and green-patinated ancient currencies. The Xiaoke Study houses portraits of the tusi and official papers detailing centuries of local governance. These documents record the daily realities of inspectors who held civil ranks from the sixth to the ninth grade.

The residence remains a sensory link to the past. In the courtyard, the sharp clink of copper coins and the rhythmic thud of the traditional Bawangbian bamboo dance recall old celebrations. Visitors can taste the same hospitality Xu Xiaoke received, through the recreated Xu Xiaoke Banquet. Through these preserved flavors, sounds, and structures, the museum keeps the deep history of the Yunnan frontier alive.