Zhonghandi
Zhonghandi is a house located at Dangxi Village, Gaopi Town, Dapu County, Meizhou City in Guangdong, China. It is the ancestral residence of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, although Lee himself has never visited the site during his life.
It was designated as a protected cultural site at the county level on April 19, 2005 and was later included in the second batch of city-level protected cultural heritage sites in Meizhou on January 13, 2014.
History
Zhonghandi is oriented from northwest to southeast and constructed with brick and wood. It covers a total area of 223 square meters. Zhonghandi, which belongs to the 'Descending Tiger' style of Hakka architecture, has eight rooms.Lee Kuan Yew's great-grandfather, Lee Muk Man, emigrated during the time of the Qing dynasty to Singapore in 1864, then part of the British Straits Settlements, to seek a livelihood. He became a prominent businessman and returned to his hometown in 1884 to construct Zhonghandi.
In 2019, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore George Yeo, accompanied by his family, visited Zhonghandi and the Lee Kuan Yew Memorial Hall in Dangxi Village, Gaopo Town, during an ancestral worship ceremony in Wenli Village, Anbu Town.
Tourism
Between 2007 and 2008, the house and its surrounding area underwent refurbishment carried out by the local authorities.In January 2014, the Dapu County government invested 40 million Renminbi to develop the Lee Kuan Yew Ancestral Residence Tourist Scenic Area. This included the construction of:
- Tourist shopping and leisure street
- Wetland park
- Entrance landscape zone
- Resort villa district
- Eco-farm leisure zone
- Countryside sightseeing area
- Scenic lake viewing area
- Hakka ancient village exhibition area
- Fruit orchard picking zone
- Hilltop viewing platform