Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall 山陕甘会馆

About Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall

Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall (山陕甘会馆) is a Qing-dynasty merchants' guild hall at 105 Xufu Street (徐府街) in Kaifeng (开封), Henan. It is known for its brick, stone and wood carving, called the hall's "three wonders" (三绝).

The hall was where Qing traders from Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu working in Kaifeng did business and met people from home. Kaifeng had been drowned by the Yellow River in the late Ming and was still in ruins in the early Qing; by the Qianlong reign trade had returned, much of it run by Shanxi merchant guilds. The present courtyard dates from 1776. Later, wealthy merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi formed a native-place association to expand their business and protect their interests, and Gansu merchants joined at the end of the Guangxu reign, which gave the hall its three-province name.

Only the Guandi temple (关帝庙) part of the original complex survives, covering about 3,870 m². It faces south around courtyards, with the main buildings in a line from south to north: screen wall, opera stage, memorial archway and main hall, and bell and drum towers, side rooms and two side courtyards off the axis. Flood silt had built up over the site, and in 1986 the government-funded repair dug the whole courtyard down by 60 cm, removing 2,000 m³ of earth to get back to the Qing ground level. The hall entered the fifth batch of national key protected heritage sites (全国重点文物保护单位) in 2001.

Walking north from the street, the screen wall has a stone relief of two dragons chasing a pearl, and the opera stage behind it faces north. Its lower storey is a passage between the front and rear courtyards, and above it a dragon-carved wooden screen divides the acting area from the dressing room. The green-tiled archway carries two plaques nearly two metres tall and painted panels of stories about Guan Yu (关羽). The main hall joins a worship hall, a middle hall with Guan Yu's statue and a rear hall; its gable ornaments read "fair trade" (公平交易) and "seek wealth through righteousness" (义中求财).

What to look for

• Screen wall (照壁), 8.6 m high and 16.5 m long in polished grey brick, with a stone "two dragons playing with a pearl" (二龙戏珠) panel
• The four large characters "loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, courage" (忠义仁勇) on the back of the screen wall
• Opera stage (戏楼), Kaifeng's only surviving historic theatre building, with a carved dragon screen between stage and dressing room
• Memorial archway (牌楼) with six pillars, five roofs of green glazed tile and plaques reading "大义参天" (righteousness reaching the sky) and "流芳千古" (fame through the ages)
• Bell and drum towers (钟楼、鼓楼), square with double-eaved green-tiled roofs
• Main hall (大殿), about 540 m², with a statue of Guan Yu and seven tiers of wood carving under the front eaves
• East and west side courtyards (东西跨院), built for private opera performances, each with its own small stage

Location & getting there

Getting to Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall

• Search for 山陕甘会馆 with 开封市 and 鼓楼区.