The stele with the Note to the memorial Temple of Zhang Jian

The stele was dedicated to Zhang Jian’s memorial temple and was erected in 1936, ten years after his death. According to the inscriptions on the stele, in the middle of national calamity and people’s suffering, Haimen was infested with locusts for years. With no money to build a special ancestral hall for Zhang Jian, people had to restructure the back hall of the Temple of Guan Yu as a memorial for Zhang. The end of the inscriptions expressed people’s hope that later generations would build a special ancestral hall for Zhang Jian on a larger scale, making it as magnificent as the Gaoyi Garden of Fan Zhongyan. Therefore, this hall marks the realization of people’s dream which dated back to 80 years ago.

The screen wall

The screen wall bears a quote from Zhang Jian. It means that just like flowers and plants, we humans go through a journey from birth to death. But if we use our life to make a difference, our legacy will last, even after our death. As is often said, spirits never die.

Ancient Ginkgo

Planted in 1772, the ancient Ginkgo has lived through a long history, growing constantly and maintaining its exuberance. It has an identity card issued by the local government. Home to the Number One Scholar and a site of good fortune, this place attracts many students who come to make wishes under this ancient tree for success, especially before major examinations like senior high school entrance examination and college entrance examination.

The Ancestral Temple of Zhang Jian

The Ancestral Temple of Zhang Jian was built in the last century in 1986. The Ancestral Temple is the Phase I project of Haimen Zhang Jian Memorial. It was ever used as Mr. Zhang Jian’s historical records showroom until 2010 when Mr. Zhang Jian’s historical records exhibition building was completed. See, it is just the building behind. After that, here began to be used as a specific Ancestral Temple of Zhang Jian. It was the strong wishes of Zhang Jian’s fellow villagers 70-80 years ago to build the specific ancestral temple for Zhang Jian, which is clearly expressed on the tablet carved with the Note to the Ancestral Temple of Zhang.

The Memorial Hall of Zhang Jian

This architecture is about 2,000m2. It was designed with consideration of Zhang Jian’s brave personality of making innovations and reforms by absorbing advanced Western cultures. The Southeast University and the China Academy of Art respectively took charge of the architectural design and the exhibition design. They drew inspiration from both domestic and international advanced concepts of cultural museums, integrating traditional folk elements with the designs. In this way, the original folk ethos as well as Zhang Jian’s great personality is fully reflected.

Zhang Jian’s Former Residence

Zhang Jian’s father and mother surnamed Jin lived in Wufu, Changle Town to look after Zhang Jian’s grandmother. Zhang Jian’s father built five simple tile-roofed houses and three thatched cottages and lived on farming and doing retail business. On July 1st, 1853 (May 25th of the lunar calendar of the third year of Xianfeng Period), Zhang Jian was born “on the west of the front entry of Dunyu Hall today”. In 1892, two years before Zhang Jian became the No.1 Scholar, the Duyu Hall was built. Later, the western wing and Liuxi Thatched Cottage were established. In 1896, the “Western House” was built on the right of the old house, namely the Mansion of the No.1 Scholar named “Fuhaicha”.

Yisheng Liquor Culture Museum

The original building of Yisheng Liquor Culture Museum was the Changle Police Station in the Republic of China Period and the auditorium of the Haimen Party School in the early period after the PRC was founded. The museum mainly introduces Zhang Jian, the founder of Yisheng Liquor, the development stages of the enterprise, brand connotations of Yisheng, unique craft of the product, cultural inheritance, etc. Here displays precious cultural relics of the Republic of China Period, traditional liquor making tools and material objects and systematically and concretely shows the 100 years of history of Yisheng liquor. It is the important window to deeply study the liquor culture of Yisheng.

Hall of Ceramics

Mr. Zhang Jian had some relationship with ceramics in his life. He admired the reputation of Jingdezhen ceramics so much that he ran the Jiangxi Ceramics Industrial Company with the government of Jiangxi in 1909. Because he laid equal emphasis on industry and education, in 1910, he established the China Ceramics Industry School in the branch factory established in Raoshao (today’s Gaomen, Poyang), which was the first professional school of ceramics in Chinese history.
The Hall of Ceramics integrates DIY experience of the art of ceramics, appreciation of ceramic culture and sales of ceramic products into a whole. There are the Ceramic Experience Area, Exhibition Hall and Ceramic Cultural Space in the pavilion. Through teaching and learning of the art of ceramics, you can fully experience the profound deposits of ceramic culture through multiple procedures including kneading mud, pulling the base, revising the base, drying the base, carving, glazing and firing.

Exhibition Hall of Traditional Liquor-making Technology

Yisheng liquor has been sticking to solid state fermentation with sorghum, rice, wheat, sticky rice and corn as the raw materials. Smash the raw materials and add the distiller’s yeasts. In the traditional clay cellar, after solid state natural fermentation and high-temperature distilling, the original base liquor will be produced and stored. Yisheng liquor completely adopts the traditional liquor-making technology, which has been affirmed to be the intangible cultural heritage of Jiangsu Province.

Century-old Cellar Pits

There are 42 old cellar pits of over 100 years old, which were first built in the 27th year of Guangxu Period in the Qing Dynasty (1901). Since they were built, Yisheng has kept their original appearance, original site and traditional technology. They are continuously used and are among a few century-old cellar pits which are used till today.

Exhibition Hall of the Secret Recipe

Yisheng liquor has inherited the several thousand years of Chinese history of liquor making and integrates the culture of health preservation of traditional Chinese medicine which is known as the quintessence of Chinese culture. With the daqu liquor made from high-quality sorghum as the raw material, Yisheng liquor is added with multiple pure natural Chinese herbal medicines into the complicated traditional craft. In the long magical process of immersing, these herbal medicines are integrated into the liquor, forming the magical comprehensive health-preservation function of Yisheng and giving Yisheng liquor health-preservation effects such as lengthening life, invigorating the circulation of blood, nurturing mentality and improving qi.