China's number one villa on Gulangyu Island was once richer than Ma Yun, but before he got rich, he worked as a hairdresser.

In today's China, former residences of many celebrities are open to public as a scenic spot, allowing people to understand daily lives of these celebrities. From these former celebrity residences, we can see development of history of time as well as architectural style of time.

Today I want to introduce you to former residence of richest man in China. This man started from scratch and gradually built a business empire. Now his luxurious house is still expensive.

(1) Independent business tycoon.

This person is Huang Yizhu. At mention of this person, people in many places may say, "Wow, I know what kind of person this is." Today I will tell you in detail about this man.

Hang Yizhu was born in Quanzhou. At that time, it was still under feudal rule of Qing government. After being attacked by foreign powers, due to decadent politics and closed door policy, many coastal people chose to go to sea to work in Nanyang. Huang Yizhu When I was in Quanzhou, I was just a hairdresser.

Although this is also a skill, he has no income and his family is very poor, so he can only try his luck in another country. With his experience as a hairdresser, he can easily get close to guests and choose to be a traveler, an alley shopkeeper. Thus began his legendary life.

Because he seized opportunity of time and combined with his flexible business acumen, he completed business accumulation in a short period of time, and he is already a relatively wealthy businessman in Nanyang. Later, he decided to bring his family back to China to develop, involving various industries in business.

After his career stabilized, he began doing charity work, building schools, etc. Many traces of Huang Yizhu from that time can be seen today in Shanghai and Xiamen. Many of iconic buildings that have survived to this day were built by Huang Yizhu at that time.

Because of his enthusiasm for public welfare in eyes of world at time, he was still a wealthy businessman with ideals and ambitions. Even if he lived at that time in a luxurious bungalow, this did not affect admiration of then world.

(2) China's #1 Villa.

Among many houses that Huang Yi lives in, there is a huge luxurious bungalow, which is also attraction that I want to introduce to you today - Huang Family Garden on Gulangyu Island. From lips of many locals, we can learn that this garden is even comparable to a real royal garden. The various architectural and cultural values ​​it contains have surpassed its commercial value.

Bungalow, also known as Zhongdeji, was residence he built for himself and his family at that time. The investment is huge, and they are called first in China. In terms of style, due to influence of Nanyang, whole style is Western style. A number of bungalows are connected together in a characteristic distribution.

All types of finishes and configurations are extremely luxurious, even floor on first floor is made of expensive marble brought from abroad, and cost is extremely high. At time price was announced, it made a splash throughout Shanghai Bund. Many decorating companies struggle to contract this business, so in Gulangyu Island, where rich businessmen are everywhere, this garden house is definitely worthy of No. 1 title in China.

Despite splendor of all decoration, here in hallway there are many mirrors and antique razors. This was what he himself asked for at that time, in order to warn himself and his descendants, so that they would not forget about difficulties of that time and be unstable. Even now, this spirit is still a family tradition passed down by descendants of current Huang family. Many descendants of Huang family still shave their heads old fashioned way.

(3) Weather tested.

The fate of this bungalow also consists of ups and downs. During Cultural Revolution, due to suppression of capitalism, house was confiscated after long negotiations. After research, government turned it into a guest house and residence for foreign guests. The famous Nixon once lived here.

However, due to lack of concept of building protection at that time, and China at that time kept to a simple style, decoration was too pompous and too luxurious. Many decorations were damaged during Cultural Revolution.

Later, after correcting chaos, in early 2000, it was returned to descendants of Huang family. Perhaps for various reasons, descendants of Huang family did not use it as a residence, but opened it to public as a hotel after a simple transformation. This is current Zhongdeji Hotel. Although this bungalow is still property of others, it gives us tourists and friends opportunity to see this bungalow up close.

However, only hotel part is currently open, so we can experience special architectural details and architectural styles of hotel and understand legend of Huang Yizhu's life. However, private parts such as garden at center of bungalow are still closed to public, we can only look at each other from a distance but cannot appreciate it up close.

Whether it's visiting former celebrity residences or it's a bungalow, most important thing is to experience life experience of inhabitants of that time, to feel their mentality when they lived, and to learn valuable qualities from them to apply them to yourself. These cultural values ​​are clearly above entertainment value.