Jiangnan Boat Culture Museum

Jiangnan Boat Culture Museum

Shaoxing is located in the northeastern part of Zhejiang Province and is a historic and cultural city designated by the State Council. Shaoxing has not only been a place where talents and heroes emerged throughout history, but also nurtured numerous learned and skilled individuals whose footprints spread across the country, spreading the uniquely charming Shaoxing culture. The once-active Shaoxing merchants in various regions are representatives of these capable people.

Shaoxing merchants, while doing business outside their hometown, often established guildhalls in areas densely populated by fellow Shaoxing natives to support one another, socialize and entertain, discuss important matters, worship the gods, and pray for blessings. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shantang Street was home to a wide variety of trades, attracting merchants and skilled craftsmen from all over. As a result, Shantang Street had a Shaoxing Guildhall that was second in influence only to those in the capital. The guildhall bustled with life, and the commercial activities and fellow-townsmen gatherings held there made the merchants feel as though they had returned to their familiar Shaoxing courtyards.

The battles between the Wu and Yue states during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods gave rise to legends of the heroic achievements of the kings of Wu and Yue. The flourishing commerce on Shantang Street during the Ming and Qing periods once again closely linked the regions of Wu and Yue, blending the cultures of these two renowned Jiangnan cities. The newly reconstructed Shaoxing Guildhall showcases the vibrant Shaoxing culture against the backdrop of the old streets of Gusu.

The decoration style of the Shaoxing Guildhall is highly distinctive of Shaoxing local characteristics. Artifacts unearthed from the Hemudu culture, costumes from Shaoxing Opera, black-canopied boats, old felt hats, the “wine cups floating along the winding stream” gathering, and the “Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion” all reflect a strong Ningbo-Shaoxing flavor. Additionally, the Shaoxing Guildhall features a Huangjiu (yellow rice wine) tavern where visitors can take a break, enjoy a cup of Shaoxing Huangjiu, and eat a few aniseed beans. Alternatively, one may invite a couple of close friends to listen to opera and drink wine on the second floor of the tavern, experiencing a wonderful sense of time and space intertwining.