Yunnan Yao'an Road Military and Civilian Governor's Office

In the heart of Yunnan’s Guanglu Ancient Town, the Gao Clan Tusi Mansion stands as a physical chronicle of regional power. Facing east across a 5,300-square-meter footprint, this palace-style timber complex follows a "king" character layout, its courtyards arranged in a traditional "four-sided courtyard with five wells" design.

The journey begins at the Yimen, a ceremonial gate featuring three distinct portals. Common officials entered through the Life Gate, visiting imperial inspectors claimed the central Main Gate, and condemned prisoners marched through the Death Gate. To survive the region's frequent tremors, builders shaped the gate with a saddle-shaped, earthquake-resistant timber layout. Beyond this threshold lies the First Hall, or Qinmian Hall. Measuring five bays wide and four bays deep, this space served as a public courtroom. Here, the sharp crack of the magistrate's gavel once echoed, while clerks in the flanking side chambers managed the six traditional administrative bureaus. Directly opposite, an ancient performance stage bears the inscription "Teachings of Rites and Music."

Further inside, the Second Hall, or Sibu Hall, functioned as the military administrative center, flanked by dedicated civil and military halls. It was here that the Gao family managed their hereditary territory. The family's rule spanned seven centuries, surviving transitions from the Tang Dynasty through the Nanzhao and Dali Kingdoms, and into the Yuan, Ming, and Qing eras. In 1328, the Yuan Dynasty elevated the region to Yao'an Road, expanding the mansion into a joint military and civilian office.

Human stories cling to these timber frames. In 1577, the iconoclastic philosopher Li Zhi arrived as prefect, walking the muddy dikes of the Longchuan River to repair waterwheels and funding local academies. A century later, the scholar-tusi Gao Wengying abdicated his administrative post at age thirty-seven, retreating to his private study in the Third Hall to author eighty-one books.

Even the transition of 1950, which repurposed the halls into a government headquarters and a grain depot, spared the original timber frameworks and Yuan Dynasty column bases. Today, the smooth, cold stone of these ancient bases and the rough grain of the surviving pillars offer a direct physical link to the centuries of governance, conflict, and scholarship that shaped the southwestern frontier.