Mengzi Customs Yamen: Memories of Openness in the Southwest

If the north side of Nanhu Park is a gathering place for local culture in Mengzi, then the south side of the park is a gathering place for foreign culture. It is full of French style, and the best place to carry the memory of openness in Mengzi is the old customs site. In the late Qing Dynasty, China was forced to open its doors under the fire of the great powers. Our history books focus more on the invasion of the southeast coast by the great powers and the invasion of the northwest and northeast by Tsarist Russia, but ignore the fact that the distant southwestern border was also a place that suffered from the penetration of Western forces. With France's conquest of French Indochina, it further strengthened its penetration into Yunnan. In 1887, the French consul arrived in Mengzi and built the French consulate. In the same year, the Mengzi Customs was built, marking the official connection of Mengzi, a small town on the southwestern border, with the world. In the next half century, Yunnan's resources flowed overseas through Mengzi, while French culture penetrated Yunnan through Mengzi along the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. Today, there are only a few remains of Mengzi Customs, the most important of which is the old site of the Customs Yamen. This single-eave Xieshan-style corridor wooden structure building covers an area of 323.4 square meters. It is simple, elegant, solemn, and generous. Although it is a historical witness of forced opening, it still preserves the dignity of Chinese civilization with the solemnity of its architecture.