In the autumn of 1949, a single empty chair with a black border stood at the first Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. It represented Yang Jie, a military strategist assassinated in Hong Kong just days earlier.

Long before his death, Yang Jie returned to his family home on Guangwu Road in November 1917. He came to bury his father, the physician Yang Hanzhang. Within a single week, diphtheria took both of his young sons, leaving the house silent. To fill the void, Yang Jie adopted his nephew, Zhaolong, and poured his grief into stone and timber.

He expanded the modest home built by his grandfather, a tailor named Yang Xuanjian. He transformed the original three-room layout with its single white screen wall into a complex of four courtyards and five lightwells. This timber-framed structure stood between the cold winds of Cangshan Mountain and the waters of Erhai Lake. The scent of freshly cut pine filled the air as local carpenters carved the eaves, creating a sanctuary of shadow and light.

The rooms echoed with the sound of school bells and children's chalk scraping on blackboards when local authorities turned the compound into a primary school. Neglect eventually claimed the west wing and the main hall. A meticulous restoration in 2016 revived the original timber joints and the smooth plaster of the screen wall.

Reopened in May 2025 as a memorial museum, the residence preserves the legacy of the strategist who wrote Defense New Theory. He died in exile. His home remains standing in the mountain air of Dali.