A glimpse of Yu Lou is seen from the walkway on the northern bank of the Yangtze River. [Photo/ ntrb.com]

Yu Lou, an historical two-story house on top of Ma'an Mountain in Nantong recently reopened to the public at no charge, after being closed for restoration since 2019, according to local officials.

The house was built in 1921 by Zhang Jian, a renowned industrialist and scholar in modern China, to commemorate his teacher Weng Tonghe (1830-1904), who was also tutor to the Emperor Tongzhi and Emperor Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Weng was from Changshu, a county-level city in Suzhou, which can view Nantong across the Yangtze River from the south.

In 1921, when Zhang visited Weng’s tomb in Yushan Mountain in Changshu, he saw the Five Mountains in Nantong across the river and came up with an idea to build the house.

Zhang named the house "yu" after the Yushan Mountain, for it can offer a faint view of the mountain from afar.

The house was left untended for decades due to wars and social turbulence, until it became a cultural relic under the protection of the Nantong government in 1998.

Yu Lou contains documents about Zhang Jian and his teacher Weng Tonghe. [Photo/ ntrb.com]