Shanshan guild hall

Shanshan guild hall

Shanshan guild hall is a place where merchants of Shanxi and Shaanxi Province unite with each other to worship gods. It is a masterpiece of traditional palace architecture in ancient China, which integrates exquisite architectural structure and exquisite carving art and fully shows the wisdom and talent of the local working people in ancient times. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shanxi and Shanxi formed two famous business groups, Shanxi and Qin.

overview

The main functions of Shanshan guild hall are: uniting merchants and numerous trade merchants in the Qin and Jin Dynasties, playing a positive role in exchanging business information, safeguarding the interests of fellow villagers and businessmen in the same trade, and mediating business disputes. In more than five centuries, Shanshan merchants started from salt industry and developed into cotton, cloth, grain, oil, tea, medicinal materials, fur, finance and other industries. Relying on their hometown, Shanshan merchants expanded to key towns and commercial ports all over the country, starting from the mainland trade and extending to neighboring countries and regions such as Outer Mongolia, Russia and North Korea. The trade activities of Shanxi and Shaanxi merchants greatly enriched the ancient Chinese business culture and pushed China's business operation to a new height. Shanxi and Shaanxi merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties pushed the history, wisdom and art of doing business in Shanxi and Shaanxi to the extreme. The great boldness, far footprints and great wealth of Shanxi and Shaanxi merchants made the world agree with the historical fact that "no West can do business".

Sheqi Shanshan guild hall

Guild hall

The Shanshan guild hall of Sheqi was built in 1756, the 21st year of Qianlong reign of Qing Dynasty. It was completed in 1892 by Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu. It lasted 136 years and was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council. During the reign of Daoguang, it was renamed "Dingyuan society" and renamed "Shanshan guild hall" in 1923. It is the only folk chamber of Commerce Building in the country that has received Cixi's imperial pen. Lu Jimin, former president of the Palace Museum, and Shan Shiyuan, vice president of the Palace Museum, once praised its "brilliant art, unique" and "brilliant and magnificent, the first in the world". Later, Sheqi Shanshan guild hall was known as "the first guild hall in China". Located in the downtown center of Sheqi County, Nanyang City, the guild hall faces south in the north, faces the most prosperous chinaware street in the year in the south, wukuichang street in the north, Yongqing street in the East and lvbuchang street in the West. The main building is narrow in front and wide in back, 62 meters wide in East and West, 156 meters long in North and South (existing), covering a total area of 12885.29 square meters and a construction area of 6235.196 square meters. The whole building is divided into front courtyard, middle courtyard and back courtyard. The buildings on the central axis are: Glazed screen wall, xuanjian building, stone archway, Dabai hall and Chunqiu building. There are wooden flagpole, iron flagpole, East and west gate, East and West stables, bell, Drum Tower, East and west corridor, waist tower, Yaowang hall, Mawang hall, daofangyuan, etc. Among them, Chunqiu building and its affiliated buildings were burned by Nian Army in the seventh year of Xianfeng. There are 152 existing buildings.

Shanshan guild hall of Sheqi was built by businessmen from Shanshan and Shanshan provinces who lived here at that time. It is also known as Guangong temple and Shanshan Temple because it worships Guan Gong. It is a perfect combination of commercial guild hall and Guandi temple. Its architecture was in the last climax in the history of Chinese ancient architecture. In addition, the guild hall itself is the product of capital germination and commercial prosperity. The rich businessmen living in various places have accumulated a lot of money, which provides a strong financial support for the creation of the guild hall architectural art. According to the relevant inscriptions, it costs 707844 liang of silver to build the Chunqiu building and its ancillary buildings, and 88788 liang of silver to build the Dabai hall and its ancillary buildings. Such a huge source of funds, together with businessmen from all over the country in order to establish their own business image and compare with each other, enabled Sheqi Shanshan guild hall to "transport huge materials in the north of Chu and visit famous craftsmen in the world". Its wide range of materials, excellent materials and many craftsmen are the top architectural projects in this region. Craftsmen from all over the world gathered here to show their unique skills, so that the architectural art of Sheqi Shanshan guild hall in Nanyang City reached its peak at that time. Its architecture is a combination of palaces, temples, commercial buildings, dwellings and garden buildings. It is not only magnificent and elegant, but also exquisite and elegant,

A number of national famous ancient architecture experts highly praised the exquisite architectural decoration art and rich commercial culture connotation of Sheqi Shanshan guild hall. Lu Jimin, former director of the State Cultural Relics Bureau, praised the inscription as "brilliant art, unique"; Shan Shiyuan, former vice president of the National Palace Museum, praised the inscription as "brilliant and magnificent, No.1 in the world"; Luo Zhewen and Zheng Xiaoxie, consultants of the Ministry of construction and famous ancient architecture experts, praised the inscription as "high building, outstanding Pavilion, exquisite workmanship, splendid decoration, public craftsmanship, magnificent Pavilion".

Because of the above-mentioned absolute advantages, Shanshan guild hall of Sheqi is the first of more than 80 existing similar buildings in China, which was announced as the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council in January 1988, and recognized as "China's first guild hall" by industry experts.

Address: No.9, Yongqing street, chundian Town, Sheqi County

Architectural features

1、 Glass screen wall

"Zhaobi", also known as "Yingbi", is a unique style of ancient Chinese architecture. If the screen wall is built magnificently, it can play a leading and fascinating artistic effect and make the whole group of buildings more magnificent. The artistic composition of Zhaobi is colorful, which can be roughly divided into two types: box style and Haiman style. On the other hand, the glazed wall of Sheqi Shanshan guild hall is a unique artistic style of harmonious combination of Haiman style and box style. The luxury of the wall, the ingenious composition and the exquisite craftsmanship are amazing.

Liulizhaobi is located at the southernmost end of the central axis of the guild hall. It is the most prosperous Ciqi street in the ancient town of Xunqi in the South and opposite to the Mountain Gate of the guild hall in the north. The wall is 10.15 meters high, 10.60 meters wide and 1.46 meters thick, with green brick frame. In the south of Zhaobi, it was destroyed in the war. Three brick boxes were added to the bottom of Zhaobi, with "Five Dragons holding the saint" in the middle and "mandarin ducks playing Lotus" and "Phoenix playing peony" in the left and right. The picture is elegant and unique, which can be regarded as a masterpiece of brick carving art. The north side of the screen wall is the front, inlaid with 476 pieces of glass. The base is a bluestone xumizuo, which is 1.60 meters high. It has a wide waist. It is embossed with the word "Shou" and various shapes of bat patterns. It takes the homonym "Fu" and implies the meaning of "both blessing and longevity". The whole wall of the upper part is framed by double-layer bamboo knots, and the bottom part is a golden lotus with three groups of patterns arranged in a row, also known as three screen boxes. The pattern in the middle is octagonal, with "two dragons playing with pearls" and "carp jumping over the dragon's gate" carved inside. The dragon's gate is like an attic, with fish tail on the right and dragon body on the left. The fish passing through the dragon's gate will turn into dragon body and ascend to play a huge Golden Spider, which is homonymous for "Pearl". This figure implies that people should go against the current and work hard, and eventually they will prosper. "Longmen" is also the pronoun of the ancient imperial examination gate, which expresses the auspicious wishes of the merchants at that time that they also hope the imperial examination gate will shine. The two lower corners of the pattern are decorated with two huge bat shapes, implying the meaning of "blessing everywhere".

The patterns on the East and west sides are symmetrical rectangles. The pattern on the west side is "a strange beast fighting a unicorn". In the middle of the pattern is a powerful Unicorn circling and fighting with a divine beast. Unicorn is an auspicious animal in myths and legends. It does not walk on insects or break grass, which symbolizes good luck. On the top is the beautiful scenery of green mountains and green waters, in which there are farmers leading cows, fishermen casting nets, woodcutters carrying firewood, and scholars reading. It is a traditional decorative pattern "fishing, woodcutter farming and reading". After careful observation, there are still the words "Zhu Chuan" and "Chen Pei" on the green land and the beast. These are the secret addresses and names left by the craftsmen at that time. They are also proud of their exquisite craftsmanship. On the east side is a picture of "Four Lions fighting for treasure", in which four male lions circle and dance up and down, showing a lively and dynamic power. On the high cliff above, a man with a robe stands, quietly watching the magnificent scenery of the world. The whole picture is a combination of motion and stillness, with a blend of emotion and scenery and a very meaningful artistic conception. The designer of the screen wall showed his ingenuity. Between the three patterns and on both sides, he meticulously set up two ancient bronze couplets in Li script. The inner couplet is "the glow of the wall is comparable to that of the rich, and the soup wall looks forward to the spirit." The external contact is "Haoqi has swallowed Wu and merged Wei, and Xuguang and Changyin have merged Jin and Qin." In the middle of the top is the title of "Yi Guan Gu Jin". The above forehead and couplet are praises to Guan Gong. The guild hall worships Guan Gong, also known as Guan Gong temple. Therefore, the two couplets and the inscribed forehead are not only the ingenious separation and decoration of the three patterns, but also the function of the overall architectural conception of the guild hall. "Yiguan ancient and modern" lintel forehead is decorated with a frame of tangled branches of peony. A statue of Avalokitesvara is placed in the middle above the frame, and twelve "Fu" characters are decorated on both sides, implying the good wishes of twelve months in a year. On the top of the lintel, it is embedded in a * shaped shape, which highlights the wall and looks forward and downward. It is said that it is a beast that can distinguish between straight and evil. The peony, lotus, and various deformation groups "Shou" and "Fu" are all spread on the wall between and on both sides of the main pattern, which also implies the meaning of prosperity and longevity through homophony.

The upper part of the screen wall is a wooden structure, a bucket arch and an eaves structure. The top part is a glass hard top structure, with two lions as kisses. The ridge temple in the middle is a lion carrying vase. On both sides are separate pavilions, fish and seahorses. On the surface of the ridge are high relief peonies and dragons. Longevity peach shaped solid tile nail cap is also in line with the decorative theme of auspicious longevity.

A comprehensive view of the entire screen wall decoration is rich and varied

Chinese PinYin : Shan Shan Hui Guan