Liaoyang Wang Erlie Memorial Hall

In the quiet of Liaoyang's old city, at No. 206 Wusheng Road, stands the Hanlin Mansion. This thirty-two-room residence, built in 1796, was bestowed by the Jiaqing Emperor in recognition of Wang Erlie's service as a Hanlin compiler and editor of the Siku Quanshu. Known as the First Talent East of Shanhai Pass, Wang lived from 1727 to 1801.

At the entrance, visitors run their hands over cold mounting stones. Above the entrance hangs a blue plaque with gold characters reading "Taishi Di" (Grand Historian's Mansion), while a second plaque reading "Chuanlu" (Imperial Herald) hangs at the inner gate. Both were inscribed by Grand Secretary Wang Jie. Inside, the scent of aged wood fills the rooms. On the roof ridge of the first hall, decorative ridge ornaments point toward the sky, signaling the owner's high official rank.

The mansion's layout changed during a 1991 reconstruction, which consolidated the original north and south yards into an east-west, two-entry courtyard covering a site of 3,250 square meters. In these spaces, the scholar's life unfolds. As a boy, Wang displayed his wit by matching his teacher's riddle with a bold couplet, comparing the earth to a lute and the local white pagoda to a jade drill piercing the sky. According to local legend, he spent years studying in the isolated West Pavilion of Longquan Temple in the Qianshan mountains, where he was reunited with his childhood love, Chen Yueqin—a story that has become part of local folklore.

Wang's career peaked when he attended the imperial Feast of a Thousand Elders. For his seventieth birthday, over 120 officials and scholars, including Liu Yong and Ji Yun, contributed 126 paintings and calligraphic works to create a massive celebratory screen. The original screen is now housed in the Liaoyang Museum as a national first-class cultural relic, while the memorial hall displays replicas. After retiring, Wang taught at Shenyang's Cuisheng Academy, where students crowded his lectures.

Today, visitors walk past the ancestral worship hall, beneath green trees where a quiet resident cat rests, breathing in the scent of history preserved in brick and ink.