The former home of one of Beijing’s greatest satirists Lao She, this small museum is located in a well preserved hutong where the author penned several of his last works.
Popular in the 1930-40s for his humorous writing style, Lao She’s work gradually came to be seen as more subversive and as the Cultural Revolution took hold, the author was persecuted by the Red Guards. No longer able to withstand their torture, aged 67, he drowned himself in Beijing’s Taiping lake.
This small museum contains the author’s library and living quarters including a writing desk with his daily calendar still open on the date of his disappearance in October 1966. After a tour of the museum, stand in the courtyard under the red persimmon trees and try to imagine what he may have been pondering just before his death.
