Weishan Ke Family Residence

In 1922, a local merchant named Ke Xiuting built a grand ancestral home at No. 64 East Street in Weishan. Ke Xiuting built his fortune on shredded tobacco, processing leaves in his home workshop and exporting them along trade routes extending to Burma. His success took physical form in this 835-square-meter compound, designed in the classic Dali Bai style of three residential bays and a reflecting screen wall.

Step across the threshold to trace the family's transition through history. Ke Xiuting’s son, Ke Dezhou, worked as a grain bureau accountant after 1949. He was also a celebrated calligrapher. His brushstrokes survive in the carved character for blessing on the hall partition, and on the grand temple plaques of nearby Weibao Mountain.

The architecture itself served as a canvas for survival. In the eastern courtyard, a whitewashed screen wall reflects the high-altitude Yunnan sun, casting a bright glow into the deep timber rooms. This wall preserves ten painted murals from the early twentieth century. During mid-century political campaigns, family members smeared thick layers of river mud over the artwork, hiding the paintings from destruction. Decades later, conservators carefully peeled away the dried earth to reveal the original pigments.

The physical details of the house ground visitors in the daily life of the Ke family. Bedrooms feature soft pine floorboards that muffled footsteps. The busy corridors and courtyards are paved with cool, geometric hexagonal tiles. In the first courtyard, a green-brick fishpond and flowerbed showcase local masonry. At the very rear of the property, a century-old sweet osmanthus tree still blooms, filling the garden with a thick, honeyed fragrance every autumn. Today, the restored residence operates as a cultural guesthouse, preserving these quiet layers of family memory and architectural skill.