WANDER SHANGHAI

1843 Middle Huaihai Road

Soong Ching Ling’s Residence

宋庆龄故居

A home and a place of international encounters

Behind the garden wall, private life, welfare work and international encounters intersect. The house’s construction, allocation and occupation belong to different dates.

Explore the historical timeline
The main house seen across the lawn, from inside the garden rather than the public pavement.

Published September 2022; capture date unstated

The main house seen across the lawn, from inside the garden rather than the public pavement.

Photographer uncredited; see source page · Image source · Rights retained by creators and source; no open licence stated

At a glance

Building date
1920
Designer
China Realty Company, tourism account
Character
Garden house with red roof and grey walls
Original use
Private home
Recorded use
Memorial residence
Location
1843 Middle Huaihai Road

Architecture and use: sources[1] [2] [3]

The people behind the address

A life in brief

Soong Ching Ling (1893–1981) was born in Shanghai and educated in the United States. She married Sun Yat-sen in 1915 and became a political and social leader, later named honorary president of the People’s Republic of China.[2]

Contributions and influence

She organised wartime relief, advanced welfare for women and children and connected overseas supporters through peace work. Her public contribution extended well beyond her marriage.[2]

The beginning

Why was it built here?

The house predates Soong’s arrival. Built in 1920, it once belonged to a foreign shipowner. The wall reveals only a small part of a home planned together with its gardens.[1] [2] [3]

The museum identifies this as her longest-occupied home. Preserved interiors bring reception, work and everyday life together under one roof.[1] [2] [3]

Look up, then look closer

Three details worth a closer look

Roof and canopy

Red tiles, dormers and tree canopies form different heights. Read the house within its garden before looking at details.[1] [2] [3]

Two levels of life

Reception, dining and study spaces occupy the ground floor, with bedrooms above: a boundary between public encounters and private life.[1] [2] [3]

The garden as reception space

The museum records international receptions in the garden. The lawn could turn a private home into a setting for public encounters.[1] [2] [3]

One building, changing roles

Read the building through time

Captions distinguish photographic dates from publication dates; periods without reliable images are covered in the text.

  1. 1920

    The house is built

    It was not yet Soong’s residence.[1] [2] [3]

  2. 1948–1949

    Allocation and arrival

    Allocated in 1948; the museum dates her move to spring 1949. These are separate events.[1] [2] [3]

  3. 1956

    International encounters in the garden

    Women delegates from 27 countries were received in the garden, giving the home an international role.[1] [2] [3]

Today and visiting

Discover the building from the street

This is a memorial museum. Follow its visitor route through the house, displays and garden; a pavement view is only a small part of the site.[1] [2] [3]

Location
淮海中路1843号
Where to look
Garden house with red roof and grey walls
Access
Check the venue’s current admission, booking and exhibition notices.
Find the address on a map ↗

Sources checked: 2026-10-26 · Check the venue’s current admission, booking and exhibition notices.

Shanghai and the world

Connections along the avenue

Its international connections are human: education abroad, relief networks, welfare work and visitors. The scale of a garden home brings large histories back to daily life.[1] [2] [3]

Back to the Huaihai walk

Text and image sources

This account is based on the sources below. Unverified details are identified as such. Where photographs are included, sources and licences are listed beneath each image.

  1. Soong Ching Ling Memorial Residence · permanent display ↗

    Building and historical record; not a guarantee of access today.

  2. CPPCC · biography of Soong Ching Ling ↗

    Building and historical record; not a guarantee of access today.

  3. Shanghai Tourism · Huaihai architectural walk (2022) ↗

    Building and historical record; not a guarantee of access today.

Image handling and dating

Images come from the archives or image source pages listed beneath each photograph. We resize and compress them to WebP, preserving their original proportions without colourisation or added detail. Grain, blur and scanning marks in historical photographs are retained.

Undated photographs carry the source publication date only; they do not establish present access. Missing historical stages are not illustrated with another building or an imagined scene.

Rights retained by creators and source; no open licence stated