Beijia Garden

Beijia Garden, a legendary garden, quietly sits in the northwest of Beijing. It has experienced the integration of Chinese and French civilizations, witnessed the collision of Chinese and French cultures, and supported the continuation of Sino-French friendship. Beijia Garden was built in 1923 by the French doctor Jean Jerome Augustin Bussiere (1872–1958) as his residence in Xishan. Jean Jerome Augustin Bussiere came to China in 1913 and served as a doctor at the French Legation, a medical advisor to the President, a physician to the Minister to France, the director of the French Hospital in Beijing, a school doctor at Peking University, and a professor at the Sino-French University School of Medicine. In 1917, he was the first to introduce epidemic prevention vaccines to China, saving countless Chinese lives. During his 14 years in China, Dr. Bussiere provided free medical treatment to local people, promoted Chinese youth to study in France, and secretly delivered medicines to the underground base of the Eighth Route Army. He was a doctor like Norman Bethune who selflessly assisted the Chinese people during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The buildings of Beijia Garden are arranged in three groups: the first group is a watchtower, a European castle-style stone building; the second group is the North House, a two-story building and garden with a Chinese exterior and Western interior; the third group is the South House, a five-room Chinese-style hall and dining room. Different trees are planted around each group of buildings, with color matching and height staggered to set off the buildings and highlight their characteristics. Due to environmental constraints, the designer of Beijia Garden made clever use of the terrain to give the garden a combination of Chinese and Western styles and the local characteristics of the western suburbs of Beijing.