Yinyuan Villa
Yinyuan Villa is located in Guangou village, Pingtan town, Yangquan city, Shanxi province.
Built around the 39th year of Kangxi period (1654-1722) of the Qing Dynast, Yinyuan Villa consists of 11 courtyards. It is built on a 30-meter-high, 75-degree slope, with a fall of 50 meters. Based on the landform, the buildings are well arranged in a multistep form, a typical northern architecture style.
The villa is near the Mantou Mountain and the Gonggou River. It has two layers: the upper layer with three-level quadrangles and the lower layer with six-level quadrangles. There are 125 cave dwellings, 185 houses, 8,000 square meters of underground buildings, covering a total area of 24,000 square meters.
The villa embodies the architecture style of Qing dynasty, including five halls with wooden frame structure, various wood carvings, etc. It was also awarded as Shanxi's Potala Palace.
The construction of Yinyuan Villa is one of the evidences of the rise of Shanxi Merchants. In recent years, this building complex has been successively developed into Zhang Shilin's old residence, Professor Zhang Hengshou's former residence and Zhang Meilin Martyrs Memorial Room, and it opened to the public on May 1, 2000.
Besides, Yinyuan Villa is where the Shanxi's campaign for mineral resources started. In 1905, British Empire plotted to occupy mines in Zezhou, Lucheng, Pingding and Yu county. At that time, Zhang Shilin, a patriotic gentleman in Yinyuan Villa, advocated the protection of mineral resources, and jointly launched the Shanxi's campaign for mineral resources with other patriotic gentlemen. Eventually, they redeemed the mining rights and founded the Baojin Company. In June 2005, the Municipal Party Committee held a theoretical seminar in Yangquan Coal Industry (Group) Co, Ltd. to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Shanxi's campaign for mineral resources. The villa will be further developed into a display hall for Shanxi Merchant culture, Zhang's patriarchal clan culture, and Ming and Qing ancient architecture culture, etc. Yinyuan Villa witnessed the rise of Shanxi merchants, and bred Martyr Zhang Meilin.
With so many cultural relics, this ancient building has become a magnificent place where ancient and modern cultures converge. It is also a traditional Chinese village, a famous historical and cultural village in Shanxi province, and a patriotic education base in Yangquan city.