Shipping Magnate's Century-old Mansion Not a Relic But a Bridge Between Past and Future

The house still stands. A century after Chen Guichun (1873-1925) built it as a refuge of pride and purpose, his lineage has found its way back to its gates. For his descendants crossing the threshold was not just a visit, but a homecoming across time.

Chen was no ordinary merchant. Born into poverty in the late 19th century, he worked his way up from a dock laborer to become one of Shanghai's most respected shipping magnates. But his legacy is measured less in wealth than in public service. He founded Pudong's first modern hospital – today's Shanghai East Hospital – to fight epidemics like cholera and typhoid, and enlisted the help of his friend, artist Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), to raise funds.

His mansion, Yingchuan Xiaozhu, built in 1925 in today's Lujiazui, Pudong New Area, became both a personal refuge and, later, a witness to Shanghai's darkest chapters: seized during the Japanese occupation and used as a prison, then again as a site of persecution during the civil war.

Today it stands preserved as a protected heritage site and home to the Wu Changshuo Memorial Hall.

For Chen's descendants, returning to this house is not just about reclaiming family history. It is about rediscovering the spirit of a man whose story was almost lost amid Shanghai's transformation into a city of glass and steel.

At the end of 2025, nearly a century later, Chen's story came full circle. His great great granddaughter, Dr Jia Ni (Jarnie) Zhu, 40, and other family members traveled from Melbourne, Australia, to Shanghai and walked into the mansion where her grandmother Chen Yunmei had moved as a child, while her younger sister Chen Xiumei was born.

Sitting in a quiet corner of the city's bustling financial district, the house became a bridge between the past and the present, between a patriarch's legacy and the voices of those who carry his name today.

"I was born in Shanghai, but I grew up overseas," Zhu said. "When I first came back here as a teenager and saw this house, I felt surprised. It didn't look like anything else around it. As more skyscrapers went up over the years, I began to understand that this house is not just old; it stands for something that Shanghai almost lost."

For Zhu, the visit was more than a family reunion. It was a chance to reconnect with the values that shaped Chen's life – resilience, service, and a belief that private success must be tied to public good.

Zhu moved to New Zealand with her parents at the age of six, later studying medicine at the University of Melbourne and completing clinical training at the University of Cambridge in England. Today, she works as a specialist general practitioner in Melbourne, a career choice she now sees as quietly echoing her great great grandfather's life mission.

"Chen Guichun built Pudong's first hospital so ordinary people could survive epidemics," she noted. "For me to become a doctor, to care for people every day, feels like reconnecting with that part of my family history."

Within her family, Chen has long been remembered not only as a shipping magnate, but as a man who believed fiercely in education, generosity and public service. According to family stories, he funded schools at a time when many children, especially girls, were forced to quit studies because of poverty, and he was known for opening his doors to intellectuals, artists and social reformers, including Wu Changshuo and Wang Yiting, to discuss social change.

His life, however, was shadowed by both violence and mystery.

Family accounts say Chen died suddenly at age 52 after falling gravely ill during a business trip to Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. It was widely believed within the family that he may have been poisoned by business rivals, though no culprit was ever found. His granddaughter Chen Yunmei, then just seven, was the last person to give him medicine before his death.

Danger did not leave the family with his passing. Zhu recalled stories of her great grandfather Chen Tinzhang being kidnapped, with the family forced to pay a massive ransom. Even more tragic was the killing of Chen Jiadin, Tinzhang's eldest son, who was shot while trying to defend the household from intruders inside the mansion.

"He managed to drive them out before collapsing," Zhu said. "My grandmother always believed that if he had received today's level of medical care, he could have survived."

During the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in the 1930s, the mansion again became a refuge – this time for civilians. Zhu said her grandmother, then a teenager, remembered how the family opened the gates to shelter neighbors fleeing bombardment, until they themselves were forced to abandon the house as fighting intensified.

Nearly a century later, the values that shaped Chen's life continue to surface in his descendants.

Zhu's great aunt Chen Xiumei married Gu Xingzhong (Frank Gu), and the couple later jointly established major charitable and educational foundations in Taiwan. Gu also supported Zhu's own medical education, an experience that inspired her to establish the "Jarnie Zhu Scholarship" at the University of Melbourne for future medical students.

"I'm now in a position to give back," Zhu said. "That feels like continuing something much bigger than myself."

This sense of continuation has taken on a new form in Shanghai. During her visit, Zhu met Wu Yue, a great grandson of Wu Changshuo, at Yingchuan Xiaozhu, a reunion she describes as symbolic.

"Our ancestors worked together to build a hospital for Pudong," she said. "I hope that, in our own way, we can also work together for our communities."

Zhu has already helped push for Yingchuan Xiaozhu and its Wu Changshuo exhibitions to be added to cultural itineraries for visiting Australian high school students. Starting in 2027, up to 300 students a year are expected to visit the site, a program she hopes will introduce younger generations to a version of Shanghai history that goes beyond finance and skyscrapers.

Standing before the mansion today, Zhu sees not a relic, but a bridge.

"The past and the future can coexist. This house proves that," she said. "The purpose of existence lies not only in living, but in knowing what to live for."

You can find our earlier story on Chen Guichun and the mansion here:

https://www.citynewsservice.cn/articles/cns/lifestyle/the-century-old-mansion-of-a-shipping-magnate-stands-as-a-tribute-to-patriotism-3k0q7jen