Mou Family Manor 牟氏庄园

About Mou Family Manor

Its surviving buildings form three groups and six named compounds. Rather than a single mansion around one yard, each compound extends through several successive courtyards, giving the visit a rhythm of gateways, enclosed spaces and domestic buildings. Comparing these repeated layouts makes the scale of an extended family estate tangible.

The Mou family originally came from Gong'an County in Hubei; the first-generation ancestor, Mou Jingzu (牟敬祖), settled in Guzhendu village after being appointed registrar of Qixia County in the third year of the Ming Hongwu era (1370). The tenth-generation Mou Guolong (牟国珑), a jinshi (进士) of the Kangxi era, began acquiring land and building the family residence after being dismissed from office on false charges, and he established 'farming and reading' (耕读) as the family's guiding ethic. By the fourteenth generation, Mou Molin (牟墨林, styled Songye, 1789-1870) had amassed extensive landholdings and wealth, and local people nicknamed the estate the 'Mou Erheizi Manor' (牟二黑子庄园) after him.

Construction of the manor began in the first year of the Yongzheng era (1723) and was essentially complete by 1935, with a total floor area of more than 20,000 square meters. Built in the courtyard-cluster style characteristic of Jiaodong housing, it forms three groups of six named compounds, each made up of several nested traditional courtyard houses (四合院) four to six courtyards deep, and it is described as the largest and most completely preserved feudal landlord estate in northern China.

What to look for

• Dong Zhonglai, one of the named compounds within the manor’s three-group arrangement.
• Rixintang and the nested courtyard layout, with several successive yards forming each residential compound.

Location & getting there

Getting to Mou Family Manor

Travel to Guzhendu Village at the northern end of Xiaguang Third Road in Qixia. The manor is in Qixia’s town area, separate from coastal Yantai; use the Mou Family Manor destination rather than the unrelated Yantai MixC shopping-centre address found in some older listings.