The small Ba Gong house built around 1912
Bagong Residence during the Hankou Concession era
Shanghai has its Wukang Mansion, while Wuhan boasts the Bakong Residence. Situated at the convergence of Dongting Street, Poyang Street, Lanling Road, and Lihuangpi Road in Hankou, this landmark of the former Russian Concession has stood for over a century. Once a prominent architectural symbol of Hankou's Russian Concession era, the Bakong Residence embodies the historical legacy of Wuhan's concession period.
The "Bagong Residence" was initiated in 1901 and completed in 1910 with an investment of 150,000 silver taels. This apartment complex built by Russian merchant Ivan Bakonov comprised two phases: the Lanling Road section (known as "Greater Bagong" due to its larger scale) was completed first, followed by the Lihuangpi Road section ("Lesser Bagong"). The integrated complex became a landmark of Hankou's Russian Concession.
In 1912, Bakonov sold the property to the Canton Bank for 180,000 silver taels. On March 2, 1925, Hankou's Second Special District Authority reclaimed the building. Post-1949 Wuhan liberation, it was nationalized as residential housing. The Wuhan municipal government later funded a major renovation of this historic structure.
The Bagong Residence is inextricably linked to tea history. In 1861, Hankou Port exported 80,000 piculs of tea, surging to 216,000 piculs the following year and increasing annually thereafter. A decade later, annual exports exceeded 2 million piculs. During this period, Chinese tea accounted for 86% of the global tea market, with Hankou contributing 60% of China's tea exports - earning it the title "Gateway to the Ten Thousand Mile Tea Road" and the European designation "Tea Port". Russian tea merchants pioneered modern industry in Wuhan by adopting steam engines and hydraulic presses for brick tea production.
Over the following half-century, dozens of Russian tea trading firms operated in Hankou. Among them, four conglomerates—Shunfeng, Xintai, Fuchang, and Yuantai—dominated the market as Hankou's "Four Major Russian Tea Firms." These companies exported various brick teas (green brick, rice brick, floral brick) processed in Hankou to international markets. Ivan Bakonov, original owner of the Bakong Residence, emerged as the foremost of Russia's four major tea merchants, having amassed his fortune through tea trade.
