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Ancient homes from home
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HUIGUAN, which literally mean “assembly hall,” were originally guild halls for traders or a meeting hall for fellow provincials or townsmen away from home.
Such halls first appeared in the early years of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when trade began to flourish in China. Most guild or meeting halls were established in today’s Beijing, though also popped up in other major trade cities around the country.
During their prime years, there were several hundred such halls in Beijing alone. And during the Qing Dyansty (1644-1911) and early years of the last century, they had even branched out to a number of major cities across the world.
For traders, the guild hall was a gathering place for religious observances, business discussions, temporary accommodation, dining and enjoying theatrical performances. For fellow provincials or townsmen, it’s a meeting place, a guest house and a dining hall.
The layout of guild halls resembles a courtyard house, a popular dwelling in northern China and particularly in Beijing, but of much larger sizes. Such architectural design can not only provide the halls some privacy, but also the comfort of a home.
Most guild halls had a memorial room for a hero from the hometown of the fellow provincials or townsmen. For instance, a meeting hall for natives of Shanxi Province usually has a memorial hall of Guan Yu, a legendary general of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220-280). For natives from Henan Province, it’s Yue Fei, a patriotic hero of the South Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and for Anhui Province natives, it’s Cao Cao, a warlord and penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220).
Such halls had meeting or multifunctional halls, dining halls and dormitories. Some even had small museums and stages for theatrical performances.
However, many such guild or meeting halls have disappeared in the past decades and only a few preserved.
One is the Huguang Guild Hall in Beijing. Built in 1807 and covering a total area of more than 430,000 square meters, it was built for natives from Hunan and Hubei provinces in central China.
It was known as the birth place of the Koumingtang, still a ruling party in Taiwan today, which was founded here in 1912. But it’s best known for its majestic Peking Opera theater, which once attracted many top Peking Opera actors in the country.
With seats on two floors, the theater can house more than 1,000 spectators.
Another notable guild hall is the Zhejiang and Fujian Meeting Hall in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province in east China.
Built in 1873, the hall boasts typical Qing Dynasty architecture and is well known for its wooden frameworks and large wooden pillars.
It has a stage six meters wide and four meters deep, featuring 50 elaborately carved round pillars. The theater used to have a front hall and boxes on the two sides.
The hall serves as a testimony of the importance of Jinan as a trade center in late 19th century and early 20th century.
And in Zigong, a relatively small city in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, there’s another extant ancient guild hall, the Xiqin Guild Hall.
Built in 1736, the hall was established for salt traders from today’s Shaanxi Province in northwest China. Covering an area of 3,451 square meters, the hall boasts many imposing buildings with multilevel flying eaves.
Inside, there are also several hundred pieces of exquisite wood carvings, stone sculptures, color paintings and clay figurines.
Today, many of the existing Ming and Qing guild halls have been put under the state or local government protection as cultural relics and some have been turned into tourist attractions.
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