The former residence of a well-heeled merchant became a writers' guildhall Friday in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, attracting about 50 writers from home and abroad.

The villa, located north of the West Lake, was built in 1922 by Bao Bolin, a merchant from Guangdong Province. It is composed of dwelling houses, gardens and a graveyard. The major part is a two-story building that integrates Chinese and Western architectural styles.

The venue will be reserved for literary use, including literary forums, exhibitions and seminars in a bid to promote exchanges between writers from home and abroad, according to Wang Xufeng, vice-chairman of the Zhejiang provincial writers' association.

As a cultural and historic capital, Hangzhou boasts more than 40 former residences of deceased personages. Many have been renovated and opened to public during the past few years as the locals began appreciating their unique cultural and historic value.

There are about 400 such former elegant residences across the country.

Those houses located around West Lake have long been regarded as a place of good geomantic omen, or feng shui in Chinese.

About 50 writers, including 28 foreign writers from 16 countries and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Macao SAR, and Taiwan Province, have came to Hangzhou to participate in the third writers' festival in Zhejiang Province.

"Hangzhou used to be the paradise of Chinese writers. Now that so many world writers come here to compare notes, the city has since become the heaven of writers all over the world," said Lidija Dimkovska, head of the Russian writers association.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2005)