Yan Xishan's Former Residence Introduction
Yan Xishan (1883-1960), styled Bochuan, experienced significant events in modern Chinese history, including the Tongmenghui's anti-Qing activities, the Xinhai Revolution, the Hongxian Emperor's reign, the establishment of the Republic of China, the Central Plains War, collaboration between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War, until the KMT retreated to Taiwan. He served as the President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of National Defense before the KMT's move to Taiwan, and after stepping down, he lived in seclusion in Yangmingshan. In the last decade of his life in Yangmingshan, he focused on research and completed works like "The Great Harmony of the World" and "Three Hundred Years of China," embodying the Confucian ideals of establishing virtue, merit, and words. In his later years, longing for his hometown and based on military defense needs, he chose to build stone houses "Zhongneng Cave" and "Red Brick House" on the sloping hills of Fenggu near Tamsui River estuary and Taipei Basin, overlooking the area. "Zhongneng Cave," built in the style of Shanxi cave dwellings, integrates the strengths of Chinese, Japanese, and Western architectural styles, differing significantly in age and design from common historical sites; it is the main structure of Yan's former residence, personally named by him, reflecting his "cosmology" as he observed cosmic changes. This fortress-style residence became the final resting place of this important figure in modern history. The "Red Brick House" was used as a bomb shelter, with walls three feet thick, reinforced steel plates on doors and windows, and designs including camouflage sheds and sentry observation posts. Both "Red Brick House" and "Zhongneng Cave" were designated as city historical monuments "Yan Xishan Former Residence" in 2004, and the nearby Yan Xishan Tomb was also designated as a monument in 2010.
