Former Residence of Yuan Jiagu in Kunming

In 1920, Yunnan’s sole imperial Zhuangyuan, Yuan Jiagu, completed his self-constructed residence at No. 5 Cuihu North Road. Having returned to Kunming after the 1911 Revolution, he spent years in rented properties before raising funds with friends to build a permanent home for his family. He lived in this south-facing, earth-and-wood courtyard for eighteen years, writing his four hundred volumes of historical works and walking to nearby Donglu University to teach Chinese studies.

The architecture follows the classic Zoumaguangerlou style, featuring wrap-around corridors that connect the rooms in a continuous ring. The entire courtyard is coated in a deep jujube-red paint. On the wooden pull doors, the deep grooves of hand-carved phoenixes, flowers, and birds offer a tactile connection to the artisans of 1919. The northern main building rises to three stories in its central bays, capped by a single-eave hip-and-gable roof. The remaining wings stand two stories high under flush gable roofs. While traditional Chinese woodwork dominates the structure, a subtle Western influence appears in the semi-circular arched windows on the second-floor exterior walls, letting in soft shafts of afternoon light.

Following the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yunnan University acquired the 510-square-meter property. The rooms that once housed Yuan’s inkstones and books became crowded dormitories for faculty and students, their footsteps echoing along the wooden corridors. Though the original garden has vanished, the primary wooden structure remains intact. A comprehensive restoration completed in May 2024 preserved these historic timbers. Today, the residence stands as a quiet sanctuary within the Cuihu Museum Cluster, carrying the memory of a scholar who defined Yunnan's modern academic identity.