The residency was named ShangWuChang, locating in a valley which is well landscaped.
The house faces the south, built with adobe and grey tiles. It is a half-timbered structure, used to be a normal farmer house in the south of China. In the front of house there are rice fields and pools, in the back there is a hill planted with diverse trees, in the left there is a vegetable field and in the right there are vegetable fields, rice fields and grain-sunning ground. The land coverage is 566.39 square meters, with 20 rooms. The east part of the residency belonged to Mao's family, 14 rooms; whilst the west part belonged to his neighbors, 5 rooms. The living room were shared by the two families.
Mao ZeDong was born here on December 26, 1893. He spent his childhood and boyhood here. In the fall of 1910 he left this valley for study. After he joined the revolution, Mao ZeDong returned to ShaoShan for 5 times, for the purpose of revolution activities, inspection or visiting his villagers. In 1966 he came here for the last time and spent the time in Water-Dripping Cave Cave.
This residency was destructed in 1929 by Kuomingtang, after 1950 its original appearance was recovered. In Apr of 1961, this former residency was announced by the State Council as a Key National Historical Reservation Unit, then in 1982 its name was changed to Former Residency from Original Residency. Now all the rooms have been recovered to be their original appearance and layouts: their bedrooms (Mao, his parents and his two brothers), the living room, kitchen and other rooms. The historical relics include: the furniture in Mao's bedroom and his parents' bedroom (bed, wardrobe, desks, stool and chair), the jar and cupboard in the kitchen, stone grinder, man-driven irrigation tool and the harrow in the Farm Implements Room, the rice pestle and man-driven blower for rice in the Pestle Room.
Mao's residency is one of the AAAA scenic spots. |