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In 1997, someone was willing to spend 1 million to buy 70 dilapidated houses, and now 26 years have passed, does the buyer regret it?
In the original ancient city of Pingyao, what attracts everyone the most is the street of the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as the City God Temple, the ancient county ya, etc., which reflects the heritage and style of the ancients.
But what is not known is that in the ancient city of Pingyao, there is actually a private building. It is said that this building was purchased by an artist more than 20 years ago for 1 million.
This building, originally known as the Ji Family Compound, was built in the Ming Dynasty more than 400 years ago. It is currently located in the No. 8 courtyard of Zhanmadao Street in the ancient city of Pingyao, with an overall construction area of more than 3,000 square meters and a total of more than 70 houses.
According to the description of relevant scholars, this was the ancestral home of Ji Yugang, the shopkeeper of China's first ticket number "Rishengchang" at that time. At that time, he used this place as a base for the circulation of silver, absorbing countless local money.
It's just that although this building was carried forward in the hands of Ji Yugang, it was not built by Ji Yugang. It is from the hands of Ji Youxian, the ancestor of the Ji family.
During the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Ji Youxian, who had been in business overseas for many years, returned to his hometown and planned to build a family mansion for his children and grandchildren. So he chose carefully, bought it at a high price, and then built Qifeng Tower.
In this way, a house that entrusts the old man Ji's strong homesickness slowly took shape in the ancient city of Pingyao.
From the Ming Dynasty, to the Qing Dynasty, and then to New China, this house has experienced countless winds and rains, and still stands inside the city wall. It can be said that this house is like an observer of time and space, who has seen all the changes in the past and understood the warmth and coldness of human feelings.
Until 1997, the year of this year, the ancient city of Pingyao was honored to be applied for world cultural heritage. The people of the city rejoiced and celebrated the privilege of the place where they lived. However, while the people were celebrating happily, the local government was worried.
After all, Pingyao was only a small county town at that time, and all the project construction funds had to be allocated by the province. In this case, it is really difficult for a strong man to repair such a big project as the ancient city of Pingyao.
In the end, after some weighing, the Pingyao County Government began to put up for sale the ancient courtyard, as long as there are funds and willingness, you can come to the Pingyao County Government to negotiate.
This is also the first case of the government coming forward to sell ancient buildings, but for the development of the county, it is not so much.
The government's plan was that the buyer could buy a portion of the house, but it would have to be renovated in the style of the ancient building, but the cost of the repairs would be borne by the buyer himself.
In this way, the repair of the ancient city is transferred to the buyer, and the ancient city of Pingyao can be restored as soon as possible.
The first to make a move was a well-known local artist named Geng Baoguo, who generously took out 1 million yuan and bought the Ji family compound.
Geng Baoguo was born in 1949 and entered the local Tuiguang lacquerware factory at the age of 16. And his master is the famous lacquerware master Xue Shengjin.
During the years when he followed Xue Shengjin to learn art, Geng Baoguo learned various artistic creation techniques such as carving, rubber, and flower and bird drawings.
But why did he buy a dilapidated house from hundreds of years ago?
Geng Baoguo, the buyer of the tattered Ji family compound, followed the master at the age of 16 to learn art, with a serious attitude and exquisite creation, so that in 1994, he was also rated as a "senior master of arts and crafts" by the province. Of course, that's all for later.
In line with the principle of doing one line and loving one line, Geng Baoguo has been working in the field of lacquerware for many years, and finally succeeded in creating a small world of his own lacquerware.
In June 1993, after more than 40 years in the lacquerware industry, Geng Baoguo was successfully elected as the director of Tuiguang Lacquerware Factory.
Once people have enough capital and status, they inevitably want to realize their dreams as much as possible.
As an artist, Geng Baoguo's dream was very simple from the beginning, he wanted to continue to ponder his ancient lacquerware works and carry forward the master's craftsmanship.
It wasn't until 1997 that the Pingyao County Government hung out the Ji family compound, and a flame was rekindled in Geng Baoguo's heart.
In fact, as early as when he was young, Geng Baoguo liked to wander around the ancient city of Pingyao to learn about various architectural styles and furniture features. Especially the furniture in the Ji family's compound, each of which is Geng Baoguo's true love.
Now that the Pingyao County Government has been put on sale, how can there be any reason not to buy it? Soon, Geng Baoguo contacted the relevant staff and discussed with them about buying a house.
After hearing that Geng Baoguo wanted to buy the Ji family's compound, his wife and son dissuaded him. After all, that's 1 million, even if Geng Baoguo is the factory director, he doesn't have so much money.
Geng Baoguo also knew that his financial resources were limited, so he mobilized the strength of almost all his relatives and friends to start a difficult road of borrowing money.
It is said that throughout Shanxi Province, all his friends were borrowed by Geng Baoguo at that time. If he had been younger, he might have had to travel all over the country to borrow money.
In the end, the emperor lived up to his wishes, and with Geng Baoguo's unremitting efforts to raise, he finally succeeded in taking the Ji family compound.
Now that the house is in hand, the next step is the complicated renovation work. According to Geng Baoguo's own words, when they first moved into the Ji family's compound, they were shocked by the desolation inside.
I saw that there were weeds and moss everywhere, and there were a lot of rats in some places. It can be said that Geng Baoguo has also seen thousand-year-old mansions, and they are not as dilapidated as the Ji family compound.
In desperation, Geng Baoguo could only turn on the cleaning mode first. After he cleared all the weeds, moss, rats, and mosquitoes, the next step was the official restoration work.
Geng Baoguo's first thing to do was to replace all the dilapidated timber buildings in the courtyard with new ones.
After all, these wooden buildings are in disrepair and are very moth-eaten, and it is easy to form dilapidated houses. When the time comes, if you accidentally collapse it, it will be more than worth the loss.
For this project, Geng Baoguo is also more particular, that is, to restore as much as possible. Even what wood the owner used at the beginning, what wood is used now, to restore the original appearance of the building as much as possible.
After the timber building was done, it was the turn of the stone tools. Since many precious stone tools had already been emptied by others, Geng Baoguo had to add some new stone tools to the courtyard.
Of course, for these stone tools, Geng Baoguo is also more particular. That is to buy those antiques from the Ming and Qing dynasties to decorate. 、
Artist Geng Baoguo bought 70 crumbling broken houses at a high price of 1 million, and now 26 years have passed, how is the house, and does Geng Baoguo regret it?
Geng Baoguo is very concerned about the restoration of the house, not only the materials everywhere strive to be completely consistent, but even the stone ornaments in the yard, every detail must be checked personally.
Devices such as stone lions and stone drums, Geng Baoguo has done all the careful research. According to the design in the ancient book, the style of these stone tools was re-carved.
At first glance, these devices look like they have just crossed over from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Especially the large stone carvings of the Ming and Qing dynasties that have been in disrepair in the courtyard, Geng Baoguo specially found the old craftsmen in the ancient city to restore them.
Seeing that his father was so attentive to the renovation of the courtyard, Geng Baoguo's two sons were gradually moved by him and chose to join it. Seeing that his sons understood his actions, Geng Baoguo felt very relieved.
After that, the father and son treated the repair of the Ji family compound as a lifelong career. The slightest flaw is intolerable. Take the matter of repairing the door as an example, it profoundly reflects the good intentions of the father and son.
At that time, Geng Baoguo's father and son specially invited experts who were familiar with the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties and asked him to check his own layers of checks. From the selection of materials, carving, to lacquering of the door plaque, all are designed by experts, and the main thing is to keep improving.
When it comes to lacquering, they use the highest-end baked wood lacquer in the lacquer industry, and they paint it a total of 9 times inside and out. There is also the part of the word, which is all made of real gold. The degree of care is comparable to that of a brewing cellar.
In the end, after 5 months of restoration, they finally restored this gate with Ming and Qing art styles. In Geng Baoguo's words, that is, "happier than having a child".
According to the Geng family's father and son's estimates, in the process of repairing the entire Ji family compound, they spent a total of more than 5 million yuan on decoration and invested countless manpower and material resources to finally make this building more than 400 years ago look new.
In order to take a good omen, Geng Baoguo decided to change its name to Hun Qi Zhai Compound. It not only condenses all the efforts of the Geng family, but also entrusts Geng Baoguo's pure pursuit of art.
Today, this courtyard has become an Internet celebrity location in the ancient city of Pingyao. As long as many tourists come to the ancient city of Pingyao, they will go here to check in to appreciate the ancient charm and coquettishness of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
As the main renovator of the Ji family compound, Geng Baoguo opened his own independent studio and lacquer art museum on the second floor. Here, he devotes himself to carving every day, specializing in pushing lacquer artworks, and experiences the elegant life surrounded by artworks.
It is worth mentioning that on September 19, 2012, there was a big boss who wanted to pay a high price to make a deal with Geng Baoguo. It is said that at that time, he bid 100 million yuan and wanted to buy the renovated Ji family compound.
But Geng Baoguo chose to refuse without hesitation. After all, in his opinion, the Hun Qi Zhai compound is like his son, the crystallization of his life's work.
has placed his lifelong artistic dream, and naturally it is impossible to give it to others like this.
On the road of chasing dreams, Geng Baoguo is well-known for his persistence. And because of his persistence, he has received a precious gift that spans thousands of years.
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