Chinese name: 李騰芳古宅

Located at: Daxi District, Taoyuan City

The Li Teng-fang mansion, whose construction begun in 1860 and officially completed in 1864, is more than 150 years old. This traditional Sanheyuan (three-sided) building remains largely intact and, after many years of renovation, is now listed as Taoyuan City’s only national-level historic site. It was formally opened to the public in 2004.

(All photos courtesy of Daxi Wood Art Ecomuseum’s Facebook page)

The Li family originated in Zhao’an County in China’s Fujian Province and subsequently migrated to Taiwan. Li Teng-fang’s father, Li Bing-sheng (李炳生), was a rice merchant who established the Li Jin Xing firm (李金興商號). Li Teng-fang was the third son of the family and passed the national exams, a status which carried a lot of weight at the time.

The Li Teng-fang Mansion stands on a land of around one hectare and is typical of Zhao’an Hakka architecture. The mansion is chiefly made up of two main houses with four wings. The overall configuration has a clear central axis and the layout is rather neat. The ancestral hall and entrance hall are located on the central axis, with two side halls north and south enclosing a central courtyard to form the heart of the complex. The roof decorations, carvings, plaques and paintings are concentrated here. In addition to the main structure, there are inner and outer yards and courtyard walls. The main building materials are red brick, sandstone and earthen brick wall. The roof tiles are black, while the walls are mainly white and brick red. Outside the wall in front the house is a half-moon pool, a so-called feng shui pool that symbolizes the gathering of wealth while also serving to catch water and raise fish. The mansion’s wood carvings are exquisite in a manner rarely seen in Taiwan. And because Li Teng-fang himself was skilled at calligraphy and painting, the interior is decorated with many calligraphies and paintings, making it a model of the elegant homes of the literati.

At the entrance to the drawing room hangs a plaque with the characters “Da Fu Di (大夫第),” signifying the residence of an official or person of importance. High up at the center of the ancestral hall are the characters “Wen Kui (文魁),” a reference to Wen Chang and Kui Xing, the Daoist deities of literature and examinations, respectively. Turning from the two side doors into the courtyard, one can look up and see swallow tail-shaped decoration on the ridges of the entrance hall and the rear of the ancestral hall, which at the time represented the status of high officials. The roofs of the two wings meanwhile have so-called horseback ridges.

The Li Teng-fang Mansion’s pillars, dougong (interlocking brackets), walls, doors, window lattices and hallways all carry auspicious carvings of all kinds of flowers, plants, birds and animals including lotuses, pomegranates, gourds, pineapples, peaches, butterflies and bees. The engraving work is exquisite and displays excellent taste.

In 2016, to revive the mansion, its management was given over to the Daxi Wood Art Ecomuseum with the agreement of the Li family. The Li Teng-fang Mansion has since become an exemplar for all in Taiwan to give a new life to old residences. Subsequently, in-depth tours, lectures and activities have allowed the public to learn more about the Li family’s history and the changes to the surrounding environment, as well as to discover the life aesthetics of this historic site.