Dreams of the Red Mansion

On the beautiful and fertile banks of the Yalu River stands a red century-old mansion - Tang Yulin Mansion (Tang Mansion). Tang Yulin, also known as 'Tang Erhu', was a bandit; an important warlord of the Fengtian clique during the Republic of China, and a sworn brother of Zhang Zuolin with a complicated relationship. He once made a splash on the battlefield, but also disgracefully abandoned the city and fled in the face of Japanese aggression in Rehe. However, during the period of the Anti-Japanese War, he refused to be a traitor despite being invited by the Japanese several times, thus preserving his bottom line as a Chinese. Tang Yulin finally retired in the Tianjin Concession until he died of illness in February 1949 at the age of 78. Opinions about him are divided, with many saying that his merits and demerits are equal, and that he was a man without great ambition who could not save the world despite being born at the right time. In 1922, the Tang Mansion was built by the Antung (now Dandong) business community, led by 'Fuxingshang', as a private club for Tang Yulin. It was inhabited by Tang's fifth aunt, Wang Peilan, who was not often there due to his busy military affairs. Wang Peilan was originally a Peking Opera actress, who was bought by Tang for 2000 taels of silver. Later, she was not content with her lonely life and had an affair, and Tang sent her to Chengde to be executed by shooting. In 1931, after the September 18th Incident, the Tang Mansion was handed over to Wang Dianzhong of the Imperial Cooperative Army by the Japanese, and was later occupied by the traitor Li Shoushan's troops, and finally taken back by the 52nd Army. After the liberation, it finally returned to the hands of the people's government in 1947, and in 1950 it was designated as the garrison of the 17th Artillery Regiment (later the 64th Artillery Division); later, this building was used as a branch of the Jiujiang Primary School in Yuanbao District, and the Dandong Precision Instrument Factory and Dandong Electric Power Capacitor Factory successively used it as a factory. In 1988, it was listed as the third batch of municipal cultural relics protection units, and in March 2020, the Tang Mansion established the exhibition hall of the former site of the 64th Artillery Division of the Volunteer Army and opened it to the public. Here you can appreciate a heart-stirring history, you can also put on the costumes of the Republic of China period to leave a beautiful image, and explore that era of continuous artillery fire! 📍Detailed address: Tang Mansion, 15 Jiujiang Street, Xingdong Street, Yuanbao District, Dandong City, Liaoning Province (near No. 6 Dam Gate) 🕙Business hours: Ticket: 10r 8:30—16:30