Huguang Guild Hall

This grand building complex can be found in East Shuimen Street in the city of Chongqing. The building group was first built in 1759 under the regime of Emperor Qinglong in the Qing Dynasty and was extended around 100 years later. The complex covers around 8500 square kilometres and contains many halls such as Guangdong Hall, Jiangnan Hall, Lianghu Hall, Jiangxi Hall and there are also 4 other towers for opera shows. The wooden building walls, doors and windows were delicately carved. The theme of these carvings includes human figures, and animals and various plants. It’s amazing that they were so vividly sculptured.

This batch of halls was originally built for the immigrants who moved here from Huanguan Areas - today’s Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty the population in Sichuan declined dramatically and the rulers of that time ordered people living in the Hu and Guang areas to move there to cultivate the fertile land. This was the famous Huguang Filled up Sichuan Movement.

There is a Yuwang Temple in that complex, which was the place to pray for a good harvest for the coming years. Dating back to 300 years ago, people gathered at the temple to sacrifice Yuwang, a local god, for happiness, good harvest and fortune in the coming years.

The temple was first erected after that movement by the local businessmen and it was repaired and extended three times with the basic style without many changes. From then on the black title architecture has stood through war flames and natural erosion for more than a hundred years.   

The towers there are still in active use. Local performances are shown here daily such as the famous Magical Face Changes in Chuan Opera.