Former Residence of Shen Jiaben（沈家本故居）

Shen Jiaben' s Former Residence, located at Jinjing Hutong, Xuanwumen, Xicheng District, displays the remarkable accomplishment of Shen Jiaben as a leading figure in amending Chinese laws in the Qing Dynasty(1840-1913) and an important part in the development of China' s legal system through pictures and documents. He presided over the formulation of a series of works related to lawsuits, including "Draft Civil Code Law of the Great Qing Dynasty (1911)”, which is recognized as the first attempt to issue a civil code in Chinese history. He also proposed to abolish torture like “Lingchi(death by a thousand cuts)”, “Xiaoshou(beheading with public exhibition of the head)”
The exhibition hall of the residence showcases several delicate things used by Shen, such as book-owner stamp, Copper Chinese hand warmer, ink dish, etc. It is divided into four parts: life story of Shen, essence of lawsuit-making in the Qing Dynasty, influence and significance of Shen and his ideas on modernization of China' s law and commemoration and research on Shen by others.
The residence also houses replicas of lawsuit files of the Ming and Qing dynasties like the famous misjudged case “Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai”.