The Loyal King’s Residence of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is located at 202, Northeast Street, Loumen, Suzhou City. It was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level by the State Council of China in 1961.
In the fourth month of the tenth year of the Reign of Emperor Xianfeng (June 1860) in the Qing Dynasty, King Li Xiucheng of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led the Taiping army captured Suzhou. From the tenth month of this year on, the Loyal King’s Official Residence was built on the site of the Humble Administrator Garden which was owned by Wu family at that time. The Taiping army withdrew from Suzhou in the winter of the second year of Emperor Tongzhi (December 1863), and Li Hongzhang, governor of Jiangsu, took the mansion and turned it into the governor’s office, which afterwards suffered several vicissitudes. In 1954, the Humble Administrator Garden was split from the Loyal King’s Residence, and put into separate management by the garden department. From 1960 onward, the Residence was used as the site for Suzhou Museum.
The main architectures of the Loyal King’s Residence were built according to the King’s Mansion standard of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although after Li Hongzhang’s taking over, the external gates on east and west sides, turrets and trumpeters’ Kiosk were demolished, the front gate was changed into government style of Qing Dynasty and dragon and phoenix patterns were modified and repainted, the other places remained as they were. From south to north on the central axis of the Mansion lies screen wall, front gate, etiquette gate, main hall, rear chamber and rear halls, which stretch for about 140 meters from entrance to rear.
The Su-style paintings in Loyal King’s Residence are also admirable. According to statistics, there were originally 285 Baofu brocade paintings (colored paints), 210 Ruyitou (sculptures on furniture, architectures, etc ), and a total of 495 colored paintings inside the mansion. Among them, 3/4 were about landscapes, flowers, birds and beasts, and brocade patterns in various hues. The pictured objects mean mostly felicity and longevity, good luck, best wishes, such as Money Bats (means full blessing), Cypress Deer (means wealth), Stone Bats (means well-being), Honeyed Monkeys (means being lord) and so on.
The Loyal King’s Residence in Suzhou is a representative King’s Mansion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom which has been preserved till now. In order to exert better protection on this building, from 1951 to 1975, seven repairs were carried on the governor’s office building and comprehensive renovations were executed in succession in 1980s, which basically restore its original look. Since 1993, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage funded a complete renovation of middle official building and part of residential buildings on East Road, making it even more magnificent.