In the quiet shadows of Guangao Alley, a century-old camphor tree drops golden leaves across a smooth, slightly slippery stone courtyard. This 640-square-meter compound, facing east to catch the morning sun, holds the memory of Chaozhou’s early encounter with modern science. Built during the Republic of China era, the house belonged to Li Zongkai, a pioneering Western medicine physician.

Li walked these corridors before founding the Ren'an Pharmacy in 1928. He reviewed patient notes in the side rooms, building his reputation in ophthalmology and internal medicine. In June 1953, he walked past these carved wooden doors to join a medical surgical team in Luoyang, treating casualties of the Korean War.

The building mirrors Li’s dual world, blending traditional Chao-style masonry with Western architectural influences. Blue bricks and grey tiles form a classic courtyard layout, drawing visitors inward through a sequence of open sky-wells and sheltered rooms.

Time and weather eventually hollowed the walls and invited wild overgrowth. In the summer of 2021, local artisans arrived to stabilize the structure using the authentic methods of their ancestors. Workers secured woven bamboo netting with sharp bamboo nails, creating a flexible skeleton for the walls. Over this, they spread a traditional plaster mixed from grass ash and crushed shell ash. You can touch the organic texture of this mortar today, designed to weather naturally and breathe with the humid Guangdong air.

Recognized in 2018 among Chaozhou's second batch of protected historical buildings, the residence stands fully restored. The mottled wooden porches and the scent of the old camphor tree anchor visitors in a specific moment. The house remains a physical record of a doctor who brought new healing methods to an ancient city, preserved in the very shell ash and bamboo that hold its walls together.