By the time you enter Shijia Hutong from the west, you are already walking into a site with more than 300 years of history. No. 59, the primary school in Shijia Hutong, was established back in 1724, originally for teaching the children of royal bannermen.

After a few years as a middle school from 1912 to 1939, No. 59 was turned back into a primary school. Rumor holds that the school was originally an ancient temple to famous general and hero Shi Kefa, who led his troops defending against the coming Qing army as the last stronghold for the crumbling Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). But a female staff member from the dean's office said the school's style is more like an old siheyuan. "You could not tell its relation with Shi from its appearance at that time," she said. "After 1986 the whole school was completely razed for new construction, including the siheyuan as the last remains of No.59."

Not far from the school is No. 51, the former residence of Zhang Shizhao (1881-1973), a scholar, writer and politico in recent Chinese history. Zhang had the opportunity to study in Japan and later in the UK, which allowed him to see the messy situation of China more clearly than many Chinese at that time. Later he worked under Sun Yat-sen as the general secretary of the activity for suppressing Yuan Shikai's restoration of Qing fedualism. Yet Zhang is even better known for his friendship with Mao Zedong. During the revolutionary period in 1920, Zhang loaned 20,000 yuan to Mao in his early period for revolutionary use in Mao's hometown in Hunan Province. After 1949, Mao sent part of the royalties from his publishing every year to Zhang in repayment of his loans. Zhang first moved to No. 51 door in 1959 under the arrangement of Premier Zhou Enlai. After he died the house went to his daughter, Zhang Hanzhi, who was Mao's personal English tutor and the wife of Minister of Foreign Affairs Qiao Guanhua. Today the house is owned by Hong Huang, the daughter of Zhang Hanzhi, and is closed to outside visitors.

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