Sunset in Silence (Wuhan Grand Hotel)

Author: Hu Liuming
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-07-01
Features: The history of a city. The story of a city. Every old mansion is draped in the vicissitudes of centuries, its rise and fall, glory and disgrace, and joys and sorrows, permeating every brick, every beam, and every grain of sand. It melts the passing years into its essence. As you wander through it, you will feel that the old house has a soul. The history of a city. The story of a city. Every old mansion is imbued with the vicissitudes of history, its rise and fall, glory and disgrace, and joys and sorrows, permeating every brick, every beam, and every grain of sand. It melts the passing years into its essence. As you wander through it, you will feel that the old house has a soul.
This book is the second volume of the "Old Mansions Series" themed by Baihua Literature and Art Press. It is also a "nostalgia" classic edition jointly created by the publisher and the author over five years. Opening a book is like opening a sealed memory. The history of Old Hankou and the history of Old Wuhan are, in fact, also the history of Old China. Nineteen old mansions encompass architectural and humanistic history, architectural aesthetics and humanistic aesthetics, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, from 1860 to 1951. A century has passed like a flowing stream, leaving behind too much that has been forgotten by later generations.
The female author Hu Liuming, who grew up in Wuhan, endured years of hardship and, with the help of her brother (the photographer of this book) and her daughter, collected historical materials, searched for the remains of old buildings, interviewed figures, and took on-site photographs before finally writing the text. The book features historical figures from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, including high-ranking political and military leaders such as Zhang Zhidong, Sun Yat-sen, Wu Peifu, Xiao Yaonan, Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei, Zhou Enlai, Tang Shengchi, Yang Sen, and Xu Yuanshou. There are also Western foreigners in China, such as officials from the British Consulate, famous Western missionaries, and Russian tea merchants. Additionally, there are renowned figures in China's business community and Chinese agents of Western companies.
The book covers historical events from the Treaty of Tientsin in the Second Opium War, which established trading ports, to the Korean War (the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea). It focuses on the Warlord Era, the Northern Expedition, the Second Civil War, and the Battle of Wuhan during the War of Resistance against Japan.
The old mansions mentioned in the book include: the official residence of the British Consulate in Hankou (the beginning of modern urban architecture in Wuhan, built in 1860), the villa of Russian tea merchant Li Venov (built in 1902), the residence designed by Zhang Zhidong himself (built in 1912), the residence of Bishop Wu Deshi of the American Episcopal Church (built in 1913), the mansion of Xiao Yaonan, the governor of Hubei Province (built in 1923), the mansion of Ye Fengchi, the owner of Ye Kaite Pharmacy (built in 1924), and the garden-style mansion of Yang Sen, a senior Kuomintang general (built in 1927). The most recent and best-preserved is the Cao Xiangtai Garden in Wuchang (a garden-style mansion, built in 1935).
These old buildings, along with the people, history, and stories within them, are imbued with a strong sense of nostalgia, like the fading light of the setting sun, creating a beautiful atmosphere. The book includes over one hundred and thirty photographs, featuring old and new architectural photos, portraits, old maps, and architectural drawings.
The title of the book is even more evocative, capturing the essence of "Time passes, but people change," as expressed in the line "The fragrant grass has feelings, but the setting sun remains silent" from Zhang Lei's Song Dynasty poem "Fengliuzi."