The square tower of Su Mao Ridge

Written by Sheng Fu Word Count: 1588

On June 11 last year, when I rode to the Wutou Mountain Greenway, I found an old house - the square tower of Su Maoyuan.

Quadrangular towers are not uncommon in Huizhou, and are characterized by the fact that the four corners of the courtyard style are built with corner towers that are higher than the main body, and the corner towers generally have three floors. The main purpose of building such a corner tower is for defense. It can be seen that the builder of the quadrangular tower is a powerful and influential figure, and ordinary people do not have such ability.

The quadrangular tower of Sumaoyuan is even more special, it is the former residence of Luo Zhonghuo, one of the "72 martyrs of Huanghuagang". I remember reading his poems at the time, and I was quite impressed:

"Feelings": Ten years of wandering the world, with a lot of experience and deep sorrows. Dare to say that you can see it everywhere, and you have heard it after several times! Tears are frequently shed for the family and country, but the kindness is not satisfied. After reading it three or five times, the sword light and light shadow were heavy.

Panoramic view of the square tower of Su Maoyuan in Baihua Town

It was my first foray into White Flower Town, and I stumbled upon it, and out of curiosity, I went in and had a look.

The square tower of Su Maoyuan is located in Sufeng Village, Baihua Town, Huidong County. Sufeng Village, also known as Sumaoyuan, is a natural village under Lianfeng Village, Baihua Town. According to historical records, during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, a person named Luo Biying moved here from Xingning County, Guangdong, named Sumaoyuan Juntian Village, purchased dozens of acres of land, multiplied here, and became the originator of the mountain here. In the early days of liberation, Sumaoyuan Juntian Village was renamed Sufeng Village.

The square tower of Su Mao Yuan is the birthplace and growth place of the martyr Luo Zhonghuo, and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, it was the office address of the "Huidong Administrative Supervision Office".

It now has two gatehouses. The first gatehouse is on the side of the road, twenty or thirty meters away from the main building, there is a couplet on the door, and the old poem is used: a water protects the field and the green is around, and the two mountains are lined up to send the green. Twenty or thirty meters of the strip, the original feng shui pool, has now been filled into a grassland. The second gatehouse, built in the parapet wall, forms a courtyard with the main building. Lian said: Lou Yi Qingshan is pregnant with strong men, and the deep boudoir ancient village is like Penglai.

The stone steps of the courtyard gate are fresh and green, and the rammed walls are peeling off. The façade of the main building is intact, with three gates. The middle gate is the largest and most intact, and it goes into three into two wells. The inner environment is similar to those old houses, the walls are mottled, gray and damaged, the eaves are grassy, the ground is damp, and there is a yin atmosphere.

It is understood that the square tower of Su Mao Yuan was built in the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. The northeast to the southwest, built against the back of the mountain, there is a small stream flowing from right to left in front of it, and the building is several meters above the road. The central axis of the building plan is symmetrical, rectangular, brick and wood structure, three storeys of watchtowers are placed at each of the four corners, the first floor of the exterior wall is rammed with triple soil, and the second floor is built with green bricks above the second floor. There are three arched gates on the front, and the top of the door is engraved with the words "Bagua", "Fu" and "Shou" respectively, and the surrounding area is engraved with the pattern of Kui Dragon and bat. There are hallways, rooms, patios, kitchens, corridors, and wells.

This building took nearly 20 years to build by the Luo clan, and at most there were three or four hundred people. It is said that in this quadrangular building, a scholarly family of six consecutive generations was born, and three Qing Dynasty lifters, one Xiucai, and two Whampoa military academy students came out.

The square tower of Sumaoyuan is now a cultural protection unit of Huizhou City.

Main gatehouse

Luo Zhonghuo (1881-1911), known as Jian, Zizhang, and No. Zejun, was a native of Sufeng Village, Baihua, Guishan County, Qing Dynasty (now Lianfeng Village, Baihua Town, Huidong County). He is a modern Chinese democratic revolutionary and a member of the China League. His cousin was a general of the peasant rebel army during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. lost his father when he was young, and he had three brothers, the eldest. He is very intelligent, loves literature, and is good at poetry. His writing is vivid, and he is known as a "prodigy". Forced by life, in 1901 (the 27th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), he went to Nanyang and worked in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and other places to make a living.

After arriving in Nanyang, Luo Zhonghuo was diligent and studious, studied hard, and graduated with honors from the Penang (now Malaysia) Normal School. Loh Chung Hok has a wide range of interests, and has served as the principal of Kuala Lumpur Secondary School and the chief writer of the newspaper. In the article, he pointed out that the foreign powers invaded and bullied, and the Qing court was corrupt, and called on overseas children to go to the trouble for the country. After getting acquainted with Sun Yat-sen, inspired by Sun Yat-sen, he joined the China League in Penang in August 1906 and traveled back and forth to the Nanyang Islands to propagate the revolution.

In order to overthrow the rule of the Qing Dynasty, in January 1911, Luo Zhonghuo was entrusted by Sun Yat-sen to establish the Guangzhou Uprising Coordination Department in Hong Kong with Huang Xing, Zhao Sheng and others, and was appointed as the commander of the 10th Road, responsible for attacking the Guangzhou Telecommunications Bureau. It was later rescheduled to April 27 (the 29th day of the third month of the lunar calendar).

March 29, 1911, is a day that history will always remember. On this day, more than 100 revolutionaries rushed out of No. 5 Xiaodongying and Wu Mansion on Liantang Street in Guangzhou, and charged towards the Liangguang Governor's Office. Luo Zhonghuo cooperated with Huang Xing to attack the governor's office, but unfortunately his left foot was injured in the battle and was arrested by the Qing army. When he was about to be executed, he was righteous and awe-inspiring, generously speaking, treating death as home, propagating the revolution, shocking the enemy, and finally heroically surrendered at the age of 30. Luo Zhonghuo was buried in Huanghuagang, Guangzhou, and was one of the 72 martyrs of Huanghuagang.

In the past revolutionary years, there were not a few people like Luo Zhonghuo. If it hadn't been for a chance encounter, I wouldn't have known that there was such a person.

Compared to today, technology has advanced infinitely, but people seem to have degenerated. Luo Zhonghuo was only 30 years old when he died, and he couldn't help but be ashamed when he thought of the early wisdom of many people with lofty ideals.

Statue of Luo Zhonghuo

Huanghuagang 72 martyrs, list of 40 people in Guangdong (from the Internet)

Blue snow and yellow flowers (picture from the Internet)

A corner of Lianfeng Village (unless otherwise specified, the picture was taken on 2023.6.11)