Huang Family Garden, the No. 1 luxury villa on Gulangyu Island, Xiamen

📍The famous antique collector Ma Weidu once said that "the wealth of Ma Yun and Wang Jianlin combined is not as much as his," describing Huang Yizhu's wealth as immeasurable. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was richer than a country. 📍Huang Yizhu's life is an inspirational business legend. Born in Quanzhou in 1868, he was forced to go to Southeast Asia at the age of 20 to make a living, working as a poor barber. After arriving in Indonesia, Huang Yizhu started as a street vendor and gradually became the head of the four major sugar kings in Indonesia with his flexible mind, diligence, and hard work. 📍After returning to China to develop his business, Huang Yizhu entered the banking, telecommunications, and water industries; and established the Zhongnan Bank in Shanghai, which was the largest private bank in the country at that time. After his career was in full swing, he returned to his hometown to build schools and engaged in many patriotic charitable acts. Many roads, banks, schools, factories, and other public facilities in Xiamen are related to Huang Yizhu if their history is traced back. 📍On Gulangyu Island, he once owned more than 160 villas, the most classic of which is the Huang Family Garden, known as "China's No. 1 Villa." Due to the architectural and cultural historical value of the old villa, including the scarce value of Gulangyu itself, a valuation of CNY 2 billion is only a conservative estimate. 📍He returned to Xiamen in 1919 and decided to build a villa for himself and his family, hidden in the depths of Gulangyu, overlooking Sunlight Rock on the right and the sea in front, a treasure trove of feng shui. First, the North and South Buildings were built, with the Central Building being the most luxurious. 📍The entire building complex covers an area of 12,000 square meters; the interior is exquisite and luxurious, surpassing all the luxury villas on Gulangyu, which is known as the "Exhibition of International Architecture," hence the name "China's No. 1 Villa." 📍The North and South Buildings are in the Western classical style. The walls of the building are carefully decorated with window frames, pilasters, arches, pediments, and parapets. The gables are in the Baroque style, echoing the style of the central garden. The overall style is a combination of the popular Art Deco style and the Nanyang style at that time. In those years, the owner of the villa often held banquets here to entertain guests. 📍The cost of the Central Building was three times that of the North and South Buildings. The steps, corridors, and handrails of the villa were all made of marble imported from Italy at that time, which alone cost 200,000 taels of silver. What is interesting is that many hanging mirrors are decorated in the three buildings, and the mirror frames are engraved with the barber's three-piece set ﹣﹣razor, shaving brush, and ear pick. This move should also be Huang Yizhu's hope that his descendants will not forget the hardships of their ancestors' entrepreneurship. 📍In 1950, Huang's descendants handed over the Huang Family Garden to the Xiamen government for management. It was once used as a cadre sanatorium, receiving countless Chinese and foreign dignitaries, including Nixon and Lee Kuan Yew. After being returned to the Huang family in 2007, the garden was renovated and is still open to the public as a hotel. 📍In 2017, Gulangyu was listed as a World Heritage Site. In September, the Director-General of UNESCO presented the World Heritage Certificate to Xiamen in the Huang Family Garden, the former residence of Huang Yizhu on Gulangyu Island. The Huang Family Garden, the "No. 1 Villa" on Gulangyu Island, will be open to the public in March. The address is at the entrance of Ma John Stadium, which is also a must-pass place to visit Sunlight Rock.