Shanxi guild hall

Shanxi guild hall

Duolun Shanxi guild hall was built by Shanxi businessmen in 1745. It was originally named Fumo palace, also known as Guandi temple. It was a gathering, entertainment and discussion place for Shanxi businessmen in Duolun Area. At that time, it was the only guild hall of other provinces in Inner Mongolia, so it was called "the commercial port outside the Great Wall". There are more than 100 rooms in the guild hall. The main buildings are dashanmen, daxilou, xiasu, ershanmen, Sanguo hall, east-west corridor, ear room, Zhengda hall, etc.

In May 2006, it was approved as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council.

Historical origin

Introduction to guild hall

Shanxi guild hall is a well preserved ancient building of Qing Dynasty in Duolun. It was built by Shanxi businessmen in 1745 and has a history of more than 260 years. The original floor area is 10000 square meters, and the building area is 5200 square meters. Only half of the existing buildings are central axis buildings.

Mongolian businessmen

When we talk about Shanxi guild hall, we must talk about Mongolian merchants. Mongolian merchants appeared as early as the 17th century, which originated from the military trade when Emperor Kangxi pacified Gerdan. According to the records of emperor Shengzu of the Qing Dynasty, when Emperor Kangxi conquered Gerdan and passed through the Mongolian grassland, all the tribes and banners were allowed to sell horses, cattle, sheep and camels to the Qing army along the way. Another battalion was set up by the Li Fan yuan, in which merchants trade. Each battalion of the Qing army sent an official to deal with trade affairs. The merchants who trade with the army mainly supply military supplies by purchasing goods from Mongolian banners and trafficking goods from the mainland. Later, the military trade gradually expanded to the garrison of the Qing Dynasty in Mongolia. In addition to arranging food and grass for the army, trafficking horses and supplying some other goods, they also trade with local princes, nobles and herdsmen, which is the predecessor of Mongolian merchants.

The cause of building the Museum

After the alliance of Duolun, the Qing government attached great importance to Duolun's business in Mongolia, and gave a lot of preferential policies. Coupled with the rich profits of grassland trade, merchants from Zhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and other places flocked to Duolun. Especially with the construction of Huizong temple and Shanyin temple, Duolun developed into a typical business city in Mongolia in less than 60 years Mongolia is a trade metropolis. A large number of silk and satin, iron and wood porcelain, herbs and spices, daily necessities, tea and tobacco from the mainland were transported to Duolun and sold to the inner and Outer Mongolian banners. The fluff, leather, saline and alkaline local products from the grassland were collected in Duolun and then sold to all parts of China. Business in Mongolia is booming, with a population of 180000 and more than 4000 registered firms. At that time, it was said that there were ten major grain merchants, eight major silver companies, five major cooking pots and two major pawnshops. With the development of trade, powerful businessmen in the same area have built their own meeting places in Duolun commercial city, which is later the guild hall.

Scale of guild hall

Regionalization

Shanxi guild hall, facing south, can be roughly divided into accommodation and leisure area, entertainment area, chamber of Commerce meeting area and Guandi temple.

Grand Theater building of guild hall:

The grand theater building is a "Star" building of the guild hall. This theater building is made of square stones, which is just a "convex" shape. On the stage, there are thick columns supporting the front half of the theater building, and the eaves of the four corners of the building, like beaks, stab the sky. There are two mirrors hanging on the big beam in front of you. You can see the Shanyin Temple several miles away by looking for the right position under the stage. On the whole, the Grand Theater is exquisitely constructed and majestic. According to archaeologists, there are only two of them in China. The entertainment area of the guild hall is mainly centered on the grand theater building. Every year, the opera starts on May 13 until it is cool after autumn. On June 15, the performances in Duolun temple fair reach a climax. On the 15th of the first month, the merchants who can sing opera sing sit opera on the stage. When the weather is fine, they sing for several days. The main opera is Shanxi Bangzi.

Business district

Business meeting area is not open at ordinary times, only important business meeting activities can be used. The most important meeting held in the chamber is the 15th day of the first month. What this day foreshadows is that the old year has passed, and the new year will begin. The leaders of more than 1000 Shanxi business houses in Duolun will attend the meeting in the guild hall. Centering on dozens of directors, they will summarize the business situation of Shanxi business houses in the past year in the Council hall, and decide on the business strategy of Shanxi business houses in the new year. Clear rewards and punishments is an essential content. The business firms with excellent management should be rewarded, and the business firms with bad management or illegal management should be punished for several performances. In this way, the cost of inviting the troupe in the guild hall within one year will naturally be settled. This move is really good, not only played a role in punishment, but also publicized Shanxi businessmen. At the end of the meeting, a resolution was made, and then the results of the discussion were read out to many other companies in the outer court. The new year's business activities officially began.

Guan Yu Temple

There is a statue of Guan Yu in the middle of the main hall of Guandi temple. On the east side is Guan Ping with a sword and a letter in his hand. On the west side is Zhou Cang with a green dragon Yanyue sword. The carved beams and painted buildings in the main hall of Guandi temple have gone through more than 200 years of wind and rain, but their colors are still bright. They are well preserved color paintings in Inner Mongolia and have high scientific research value. The wall story painting in the East Hall of Guandi temple is also a unique one in the guild hall. The whole wall depicts the important story fragments of the Three Kingdoms. Taking Guan Yu's life achievements as the main line, there are all kinds of stories, such as making friends in Taoyuan, watching spring and autumn at night, breaking yellow scarves and so on. In the corner of each painting is marked with the amount of silver sponsored by the firm. The picture of more money is bigger than the picture of less money. It not only reflects Guan Yu's loyalty and integrity, but also reveals the businessman's care about everything. The first, fifth and fifteenth days of each month are the days when Shanxi merchants go to the temple for incense. In these three days, the temple of Guandi is full of smoke and bustle.

Why does the guild hall worship Guan Yu? There are two reasons. First, Guan Yu was a native of hedongjie county (now yuncheng county, Shanxi Province) at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Therefore, Shanxi businessmen regarded him as a fellow townsman and especially close to him. Of course, the second is the main reason: the guild hall, also known as "demon subduing Palace", is intended to worship Guan Yu, a hero in Shanxi Province. Taoism respects Guan Yu as the demon subduing emperor, and asks him to protect his business and wealth. As we all know, after the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu's image was constantly beautified and deified, and became the only god worshipped and worshipped by Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, occupying a high position in China. Shanxi businessmen are not only proud of this, but also regard Guan Yu as the embodiment of "faithfulness" and "righteousness". On the one hand, they demand their peers; on the other hand, they show people that they are honest and treat guests and never do anything without "righteousness". Because of the worship and esteem of merchants, Guan Yu became the incarnation of the God of wealth. As a result, in the commercial guild hall, there is a statue of Guan Yu, the God of wealth.

Architectural features

architectural composition

Located in Duolun County, Inner Mongolia, "Shanxi guild hall" was built by powerful Shanxi businessmen in 1745, which was a grand scale at that time. The guild hall covers an area of 5500 square meters, with a construction area of 1800 square meters. It is composed of four courtyards, including five archways, one dashanmen, one xiasu, one grand theater, one bell and Drum Tower, two mountain gates, side hall, east-west corridor, east-west wing room, ear room, main hall, etc. The big brand building is several feet high, and there is a small archway on both sides of the East and the west, with carved beams and painted columns, which is quite spectacular. Dashanmen, commonly known as "guoma hall", is flanked by clay painted war horses and horsemen. On the large arch gate on the west side is written the word "Jin resort". Out of the gate is the Grand Theater, facing north from south, about 3 Zhang high. The stage is supported by two bright red pillars. A plaque is hung on the front beam of the stage, with the words "water mirror stage" written on it. A plaque was hung in the back hall, which read "Zijin comes from the East". A plaque was hung above the two mountain gates in the north of the theater, which read "Qianqiu zudou". In front of the gate, a pair of big stone lions live under the two big flag poles. The shape is very lifelike. Along the hall is the main hall, which is the main hall for worshiping Guan Gong. The walls of the wing rooms on both sides are painted with the story paintings of the Three Kingdoms. There are three clay statues in the hall, with Guan Yu sitting in the middle, Guan Ping on the left and Zhou Cang on the right. There is a incense case in front of the statue of Guan Gong. The treasure box is full of change. It is the respect of the people who pay homage to Guan!

Architectural decoration

Facing the street, the hall faces south. There is a main entrance of a large temple style hall. There is a tall archway tens of feet south of the main entrance. There are some small pilou on the East and west sides of the street. The archway is carved with beams and painted buildings, which is quite spectacular. A few rows of iron nails about the size of tea bowls on the vermilion gate are painted black. A pair of iron gate rings are buckled with big gong like copper ornaments. Under the eaves on both sides of the gate, two Zhang high stone tablets are surrounded by five foot high wooden railings, which are engraved with square inch regular script to explain the purpose, time and investors of the building. There is a clay painted war horse on both sides of the entrance hall, which looks like a real horse. There is a horse building on each side of the horse. The horse is lifelike and wants to be pulled out. There are two rooms on both sides of the hall. To the west of the room, there is a high stool door. On the arched lintel, there are four big words in Yangwen: "Jinjing resort". Through the door, there is a single courtyard. Although the courtyard is small, it is very neat. It may be a place for the villagers who just came from Shanxi. Standing in front of the courtyard, I was already in the theater of Shanxi guild hall, which covers about half of the area. A theater building facing south and sitting north is about three feet high, and its base is made of rectangular stones. It is in the shape of "convex", about eight feet high. The protruding part is the mouth of the platform, which is very thick and large

Chinese PinYin : Shan Xi Hui Guan