Qiu Jin Former Residence

The Qiu Jin Former Residence is a memorial site on the family home of Qiu Jin (1875-1907) in the Heshan Road area of Yuecheng District, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China. Qiu Jin was a poet, early feminist and revolutionary who campaigned against foot-binding and for women's education, and she was executed in Shaoxing in 1907 after a failed uprising against the Qing dynasty. She is honoured across China as a martyr and as a pioneer of women's rights. The house is a traditional Shaoxing residence of timber and brick, with courtyards, tiled roofs and carved wooden details. Inside, exhibition rooms present her life through photographs, letters, poems, personal belongings and reconstructed rooms, tracing her path from a scholarly family to study in Japan, return to China and revolutionary activity. Visitors walk through the courtyards and halls in a set order, reading captions that are mostly in Chinese, with some English. A visit takes roughly 45 to 60 minutes. Opening hours are typically 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, though these should be confirmed locally because they can change, and general admission is free with an ID or passport. Weekday mornings are quietest, since the site draws mainly school groups and history enthusiasts rather than large tour crowds, and it is rarely crowded. The most photogenic spots are the inner courtyards and the carved timber doorways. Nearby are Lu Xun Native Place and other old-town sites, and the residence is a short walk or taxi ride away from them, so it fits easily into a day devoted to Shaoxing's modern historical figures. Because Qiu Jin's statue and memorial monuments elsewhere in the city also honour her, the residence is the place to understand the personal story behind them.