How rich is Liu Wencai, a famous gentry and landlord in Sichuan?

There are always a few pages in history books that people keep looking at and become typical representatives of a certain period of history.

Liu Wencai Manor sits quietly in the west of the Chengdu Plain. After a few sunsets, the world has changed. The former prestigious private manor of the wealthy gentry has now become a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a national third-level museum. Wandering around the old Liu family manor, you can still clearly feel the luxury of the Liu family in those days behind the heavy walls and thick doors. The story of Liu Wencai has been buried in the storm of history. From the remaining historical materials, we can still get a glimpse of Liu Wencai's life trajectory.

Liu Wencai and his family

The Liu Wencai family immigrated to Sichuan from Huizhou, Anhui during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. Through the efforts of the Liu family over the generations, Liu Zongxian, the seventh generation descendant, passed the examination and the Liu family became a famous local family. Following Liu Wencai's generation, the Liu family has great luck. Liu Wenhui and Liu Xiang respectively became famous warlords in Sichuan, dominating one side. The descendants of the Liu family have also produced many talents, including Liu Shiding, Liu Shigai, Liu Shizhao, Liu Shijie, etc., who are either university lecturers or professors, or famous photographers.

Liu Wencai became famous because of the Liu Wencai Manor. Before the founding of New China, the money earned by Liu Wencai from politics and business was passed through the Qianglai County in seven counties including Huayang, Xinfan, Wenjiang, Chongqing, Dayi, Shuangliu and Qionglai. Maiqiaozhan occupied a large amount of land and quickly became a famous local landowner.

Liu Wencai also has a very dark page in history. He once served as the director of the Xunan Shipping Donation Bureau of the old government, the director of the General Department of Smoking Smoking Control in southern Sichuan, the general office of the Southern Sichuan Taxation Bureau, and the commander of Xunan Lieutenant General Qingxiang. Equal grade. He used his power to impose arbitrary taxes and imposed 44 types of taxes and donations in southern Sichuan, forcing farmers to grow opium. He was called Liu Laohu by the locals.

Liu Wencai also participated in the strangulation of our party members, killing nearly a hundred people from our party and farmers' association members, and five leading cadres of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.

When he returned to his hometown, he exploited farmers cruelly and caused many tragedies. There are many wives and concubines in the family, and they live a luxurious life. Many robbers, bullies, and bandits have taken refuge in him and committed evil under his wings. On October 17, 1949, Liu Wencai died of illness in Shuangliu County.

How rich is Liu Wencai?

Liu Wencai is a famous gentry landlord in Sichuan. The Liu Manor alone covers an area of ??more than 70,000 square meters, with a construction area of ??21,055 square meters. There are more than 180 houses, including halls, living rooms, accounting rooms, rent collection yards, treasury, gardens, orchards, etc. Building such a grand manor requires a lot of money.

Before Liu Wencai returned home, he had gained a lot of wealth during his career as an official. When he was in Yibin, he took advantage of the melee between Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui to plunder money in Yibin in the name of collecting military expenses. 200,000 silver dollars. When he returned home, he collected a little more than 4,500 boxes of gold, silver and jewelry of all kinds, and it took 20 ships to transport them back to his hometown.

After Liu Wencai returned home, he occupied land lavishly and used various means to plunder it. At his peak, he owned more than 12,000 acres of land. Covering seven counties including Huayang, Xinfan, Wenjiang, Chongqing, Dayi, Shuangliu and Qionglai. There are many properties in his name, including 22 banks, 5 pawn shops, 684 street houses, 10 rollers, and 29 mansions. He has a large amount of jewelry, gold and silver hidden in his home.

Introduction to Liu's Manor

Liu's Manor is located in Dayi County, Sichuan Province. The Liu family began construction at the end of the late Qing Dynasty, and it was only during Liu Wencai's time that it became a building with a scale of more than 100 acres. of large landowner estates. Liu's Manor is a typical architectural style of Bazi in western Sichuan. Now Liu's Manor is a national third-level museum, and its full name is Dayi Liu's Manor Museum.

The museum’s architecture, collections, clay sculptures, and remains play a great role in understanding and studying the politics, economy, and culture of China’s semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, as well as the history of Sichuan warlords, folklore, and modern residential architecture. At the same time, it It is also a profile of the development history of modern Chinese society.

At present, the Dayi Liu Manor Museum has major attractions such as the Old Mansion, the Rent Collection Courtyard, and the Miss Building.

Dayi Liu's Manor Museum is a building complex that is compatible with both Chinese and Western styles. It has the style of a traditional Chinese landlord's manor and also absorbs the architectural concepts of Western architecture. It is mainly made of brick and wood structure and has a distinctive western Sichuan local architectural style.

Life of the Liu Family

Visiting the Liu Manor, you can especially feel the luxurious life of the Liu Wencai family in the landscapes. The expansion and grandeur of the manor tell us that the Liu family was once a prominent family here. There are many tile-roofed houses in the manor, giving it a simple atmosphere of life. The deep and elegant courtyard, with its lush green flowers and plants, contains a touch of wealth and aura.

The solemn black houses with gray tiles are dotted with lattice wooden windows. You can imagine the rich life of the big landowners in western Sichuan with your eyes closed. Chinese and Western-style living rooms, reception rooms, accounting rooms, labor courtyards, rent collection courtyards, granaries, secret treasuries, opium tobacco warehouses and Buddhist halls, gardens and orchards pass by one after another, and it seems that the distinct landlord manor life of the Liu Wencai family can be seen.

The osmanthus hall is filled with the fragrance of osmanthus, and tall and straight trees of golden osmanthus and silver osmanthus stand in the courtyard, lush and green. The hall is spacious and bright, with Western-style sofas and Chinese-style tables and chairs complementing each other. It is not outdated even now. This is a place for leisure and entertainment for Liu Wencai's family. With such furnishings in the 1930s and 1940s, this life was quite high-end.

The bedroom is not big but luxurious enough, with a large flower bed with golden dragons holding pillars, and golden dragons made of real gold wrapped around the four pillars. The rich silence reveals the magnificence of history. Miss Building is antique, with some charm of Western architecture.

The prosperity of the Liu family has long been wiped out with the establishment of New China. Now the evaluation of Liu Wencai has gradually returned to the historical truth. Although Liu Wencai once did good things in building schools and roads, Liu Wencai was still a feudal gentry landlord who committed many evil deeds. These facts cannot be erased.

Liu Wencai once had five wives and concubines: Lu, Yang Zhonghua, Ling Junru, Liang Huiling, and Wang Yuqing. The youngest Wang Yuqing is thirty-seven years younger than Liu Wencai. It doesn't matter today. Today's successful people often marry wives with a large age gap. Liu Wencai did not marry as many women as the official matchmakers. His extravagance in private life revealed the backwardness and evil of society at that time.

Liu Wencai is a typical representative of the feudal gentry and landlords in the old society. Although many people now whitewash it, the old society is the old society. The feudal landlords inevitably committed crimes under the inherent traditional rule of the year. All kinds of sins. As one of the successful representatives, Liu Wencai's crimes back then were not greater than those of ordinary gentry and landlords, but not less.

A page in history has long been turned, and Liu Wencai’s descendants have long since become ordinary people. Looking at Liu Wencai's life trajectory now, people can't help but lament the prosperity and decline of history.