Located at No. 650 Guoshun Road, Jiuyuan Memorial Building Complex, once the resident houses of generations of Fudan’s academics, was inaugurated on July 3 after a year’s renovation.
The Complex consists of three houses, one of which is the former residence of Chen Wangdao (1891-1977), the first translator of the Chinese version of The Communist Manifesto and late President of Fudan University. The house has now been renovated into the exhibition hall of The Communist Manifesto. The restoration of the other two houses located behind the exhibition hall and lived by the families of Su Buqing, Tan Jiazhen and Chen Jiangong began last year.
The other two houses (No. 61 Professor's Villa & No.65 Professor's Villa) were built in 1950s, following the same layout and floor plan. Both completed with a floor area of 197 square meters. With sloped red-tile roofs, yellow stucco exterior walls and wooden doors and window frames, the ingeniously designed buildings surrounded by lovely metasequoia and osmanthus have witnessed the life of these great masters for decades.
Mathematician and late President of Fudan University Su Buqing (1902-2003), who made important contributions to the University's development after the Reform and Opening-up, spent nearly half a decade living in No. 61 Professor's Villa until his last day.
In this villa, half of the 60-square-meter room on the first floor is used by Su as a meeting room and the other half a study. As shelves of books, standing still like walls there, gradually occupied the study, Su dubbed the study as a book city, which is not only a place for him to study mathematics and write monographs, but also a venue for him to carry out academic exchanges. For decades, Su has received a number of mathematicians from Eastern Europe, Japan and other countries in this book city. He also built up a small garden in the vacant lot around the house, where the roses, orchids and canna he grew would be in full bloom in every flower season.
No. 65 Professor’s Villa was the residence of mathematician Chen Jiangong (1893-1971), who founded with Su the Chen Su School, which was widely praised at home and abroad. Chen was also the first Chinese student to earn a Doctor’s Degree in Science in Japan. He made great contribution to the study of trigonometric functions and his The Theory of Trigonometric Series is influential.
Geneticist Tan Jiazhen(1909-2008) was the second resident of No.65 Professor’s Villa after Chen Jiangong. Tan’s discovery about the allel mosaic dominance hereditary of Harmoria axyridis and polygene hereditary generated tremendous international attention. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tan established China's first genetics major, the first genetics research institute and the first school of life sciences at Fudan University.
A large number of precious historical materials and exhibits are now on display in the villas, which vividly unfold the stories of these masters. It took eight months for Fudan University Archives to prepare this exhibition and most of the exhibits are on display for the first time.
47 pieces of Su’s manuscripts and nameplates of academicians, as well as 5 pieces of bronze plaque of “Su Buqing Asteroid”, international naming communique and naming certificate of the Asteroid and 237 letters from Su to his daughter are donated by Su’s descendants. Books, clothes, suitcases and other items used by Tan, stationery and books used by Chen and two bookshelves always accompanied him are also on display.
