“The continuous flow of Xiang River runs around Changsha, and the boatman sails along the river from the north. When seeing this red building of Xiangya Hospital, he would know that he has arrived in Changsha.” 104 years ago, American architect Murphy designed Xiangya Hospital’s Red Building, which made the hospital the most beautiful in China and the one with the best building in central and south China at that time. Since its completion, the Red Building experienced the glory days, and was once destroyed and then rebuilt. It has borne honors, disgrace and prosperity of a century, and witnessed the years of thousands of benevolent doctors in Xiangya Hospital serving the people.
After nine years of renovation, the Red Building is restored to its former glory. As a historical and cultural site, this building witnessed the changes and development of Xiangya Hospital in the past 100-odd years, and was put into use again by the end of July, 2019. It will continue to serve numerous patients as a “medical front”, and shine with new vitality and energy in the new era.
The integration of the Chinese and Western styles made Xiangya Hospital the most beautiful in China and the one with the best building in central and south China at that time.
In 1914, the Yale-China Association hired famous American architect Murphy to design the main building of Xiangya Hospital. Murphy, who had visited China for many times, was deeply influenced by traditional Chinese architecture and culture, and attempted to find the balance between modern Western architecture and traditional oriental architecture.
After Murphy adjusted the design for several times, by the end of 1917, a hospital for Western medicine in a Chinese-style building of brick and concrete structures featuring cornices and interlocking wooden brackets was erected at Mayuanling in the north suburb of Changsha. With its surface covered by reinforced steel and concrete, it applied the red brick and wooden structure, gable and hip roofs, cornices and craw-shaped corners, fret decorations at the tail part of the roof, maroon imbrices, grain yellow ridges and traditional Chinese patterns as embellishment. This Red Building integrated oriental and Western styles, and hosted over 300 rooms and 120 beds, making Xiangya Hospital the most beautiful in China and the one with the best building in central and south China at that time.
Amidst the flames of war, for citizens of Changsha, this Red Building with gold encaustic tiles and red and white walls was the paradise in the city. At that time, the Red Building was overcrowded. However, as long as the corridor or path could provide enough room for a bed, the medical staff would not leave any patient unattended. What’s more, thousands of refugees in Changsha were provided with a shelter.
In 1942, the defeated Japanese army burnt Xiangya Hospital when they fled away. The Red Building, once a landmark of Changsha, had nothing left but the skeleton. Fortunately, when designing the building, Murphy gave its fire resistance a lot of thought. Thus the skeleton of the building was retained, which formed the basis for its reconstruction later on.
After the War of Chinese People’s Resistance against Japanese Aggression, medical staff of Xiangya Hospital decided to restore the building. From 1946 to 1947, with the joint efforts of civil groups led by the Yale-China Association, Xiangya Hospital rebuilt the Red Building, the original three-story main part of which added the fourth story. In addition, a four-story patient building was built in the west of the Red Building, which was the Hospital Affiliated to the National Xiangya Medical College. A new outpatient building was built close to the west of the affiliated hospital. These buildings maintained the style of the patient building of Xiangya Hospital designed by Murphy, thus recovering the look of the Xiangya Red Building.
“Almost half of the history of Western medicine in China is written by the people of Xiangya.” Reviewing the history, we know that Xiangya deserves such a reputation. In the medical history of China, especially in the nearly 100-year history of Western medicine in China, many great names of Xiangya hospital were like shining stars in the sky. They once pursued their studies in the Xiangya Red Building. After stepping out of this building, they had made indelible contributions to the medical causes of China, and even the world.
In March 2011, the Xiangya Red Building and other buildings of early period were enlisted as the ninth batch of protected historical and cultural sites of Hunan Province. The reasons were as follows: it integrated advanced technologies of the West and the traditional decoration techniques of China, and represented the integration of Chinese architecture with the world; it went through the difficulties and hardships in the war of resistance against aggression and stood firmly; it witnessed and boosted the progress of modern Chinese medicine, and passed down the spirit of Xiangya from generation to generation. At present, the Xiangya Red Building is applying for the title of a major historical and cultural site protected at the national level.
The appearance and internal details of the Red Building are restored to the greatest extent possible
After the new medical building of Xiangya Hospital was put into operation in 2010, the renovation of the Red Building was placed on the agenda of the hospital.
“As the Red Building was built a long time ago, the renovation will not only restore its old look, but also meet the standards of modern hospitals in terms of internal renovation to guarantee that the Xiangya Red Building is able to continue to serve the patients.” said Qian Zhaoxin, Office Director of the Xiangya Hospital.
On November 23rd, 2013, the renovation of the Red Building began. For Cao Xing, Director of the Infrastructure Construction Office, this was a big challenge. “There are definitely many contradictions between the renovation of historical and cultural sites and the standards of modern hospitals, and this is also the biggest challenge in the renovation. Every step and every scheme we made must be approved by the cultural heritage authority.”
In addition, over 100 years of history of the Red Building led to the fact that materials related to its construction was severely insufficient. The workers often had to take a look on site and even dismantle the wall to see what is was like inside. Designs were changed again and again, which created many difficulties for the renovation.
After the decoration layer was removed, the workers found that the wall had been loosened, and even bricks in the wall could be pulled out by hands. So they had to build the wall again, and reinforce and thicken the wall with pressure grouting. Some floors were even perforated and they could see through them directly. They had to reinforce these walls with bar-mat reinforcement and cement mortar, and cooperated with Central South University to develop patented technologies for carbon fiber reinforcement...
Another tougher challenge was to restore the old look of the Red Building as much as possible, and bring back its former glory. In order to recover the color of the outer wall, a special German technology was used to clean the red paint which was applied in previous repairs, exposing the original appearance of red bricks, and even the traces of burns by the Japanese army. For incomplete red bricks, brick powder with special ingredients was used to repair them, which were integrated with the original bricks after solidification. This was the first time that this technology was applied in Hunan. Every tile on the roof was removed for cleaning, and those that could be reused were put back to the roof. The windows were completely restored to the original wooden style, and every pane was crafted manually.
“I got to know the Red Building from the description and photos of my families. But when I was actually standing in front of it, I found that it was much more magnificent than I thought.” Kevin Kelley Wilson, a descendant of the Red Building’s construction manager Stanley Wilson, said with emotions when he visited Xiangya Hospital in 2016.
For the Xiangya people, the Red Building carries the memories of many generations. “When walking into the Red Building, you can feel the rich history of Xiangya. Every window, every wall and every corner is a beautiful scenery and carries untold history. When recalling the scenes of predecessors healing the wounded and rescuing the dying here, we feel a stronger sense of responsibility and mission.” said Peng Lingli, head nurse of Ward 74 of the Hand Microsurgery Department.
A modern hospital with new vitality continues to serve patients
After the renovation, the Red Building is divided into a medical area and an office area. In the medical area, the outpatient area and the ward area of the Infectious Diseases Department and ICU are in one building. There are also five ward areas respectively for the Thoracic Surgery Department, the Hand Microsurgery Department, the Stomatology and Dentofacial Surgery Department, the Urology and Calculus Department, and the Nephrology Department, and a ward area for phase I clinical tests of drugs, which is used for scientific research.
Walking into the Red Building, you may feel as if you were in a time machine, which brings you from over one hundred years ago to the modern time. Central air conditioners, network control system, access control system, care calling system… In retro decorations, the wards are properly distributed with clear layout, comfortable environment and secure structure, making it a standard modern hospital.
“In the past, a ward was usually for three people, and even four people. In case that one patient needed to be quarantined, the whole ward needed to be vacated. Now a ward contains two patients at most, and many wards contain only one. This arrangement makes it more convenient to quarantine patients, improving the efficiency of using wards.” said Professor Huang Yan, Deputy Director of the Infectious Diseases Department. The hospital has also specially opened a negative-pressure ICU for infectious diseases, which is rare across China. This ICU controls the air to flow in one direction through negative pressure, which can better prevent infection in the hospital. Besides, there is also a special ward for infectious diseases, which receives patients with complicated fever and infected patients who are difficult to cure. This ward can help boost the development of the Infectious Diseases Department and improve of the hospital’s capabilities of diagnosis and treatment.
For Luo Xiaonian, head nurse of Ward 75 of the Urology and Calculus Department, the new patient area made her greatly relieved. “The base number of patients of urological diseases and calculus is large in Hunan, and many patients in serious conditions need to be admitted to the hospital several times to have operations. Some of them need to wait for as long as three to four months for beds. After the new patient area is put into use, this condition will be greatly improved, and the reusing rate will also be increased.” said Luo Xiaonian. The new patient area received 12 patients in the first four days, during one of which eight operations were completed.
“A young friend of mine who came from another city to see me couldn’t believe that this was a hospital when standing in front of the building.” said Ms. Chen with a smile, a patient in Ward 74 who was hospitalized for the first time. The Red Building has transformed her impression on hospitals. “The look of the building shows the beauty of traditional architecture. But everything inside is modern. It’s spacious and quiet, which makes my stay here very comfortable.”
In the medical area, there is a special ward which will be put into use soon. It is the ward for phase I clinical tests of drugs, namely clinical tests on healthy human bodies. Professor Xu Pingsheng, Director of Good Clinical Practice Office (GCP) and Office of the Phase I Clinical Research of Drugs, said that phase I clinical tests of drugs need to be more rigorous because their objects are healthy humans. The hardware of the new ward is more aligned with the needs of research, and the functional area for the objects is better equipped, which can minimize the influence of the environment on them. In addition, it is equipped with a world-class mobile ECG monitoring system, which can dynamically monitor the data of cardiac safety of those objects without affecting their daily life, thus obtaining more complete research data.
“The trend of drug research and development (R&D) is changing in China from generic drugs to a combination of generic and innovative drugs, and then to innovative drugs. The phase I clinical tests of drugs are necessary for the R&D of innovative drugs. As a hospital with a history of over one century, we must keep up with our country’s guidance, and set an example in the industry.” As Professor Xu Pingsheng introduced, the ward would also help improve the level of clinical research of the hospital. For clinical problems medical staff spot with small-sample data, they can obtain first-hand materials and data through clinical tests to make research achievements, and ultimately provide patients with more effective treatments and drugs.
Having gone through over a century of vicissitudes, the Xiangya Red Building has always been the “medical front” undertaking various tasks, including clinical teaching, medical rescue and scientific research. It has also witnessed the development and changes of Xiangya Hospital in the past 100-odd years. In the new era, the significance of the Xiangya Red Building will be more prominent. Reviewing the development path in the past and looking into new glories, it will definitely come to a new life with vitality.
