Shantang Antai Fire Station

Shantang Antai Fire Station

The Antai Fire Station is located in a two-story building opposite Tonggui Bridge on Shantang Street. At first glance, you’ll find the old site of the Antai Fire Station is really rather “unremarkable.” Compared to the other historic guildhalls on Shantang Street, it has neither a particularly eye-catching “signboard” nor any ostentatious “landmarks,” quietly and modestly blending into the classic, traditional architecture of Shantang Street.

“When you arrive in Gusu, you’ll see homes nestled by the riverside.” Historically, Shantang Street was not only a tourist destination but also a major commercial hub. It was lined with restaurants and teahouses, dotted with shops and guildhalls, adorned with ancestral halls and memorial archways, and connected by cargo docks... The former residence of Wu Yipeng, Minister of Personnel during the Ming Dynasty—Yuhan Hall, covering an area of over 5,000 square meters—stands alongside numerous historic sites such as the Quanzhou Guildhall, the Shaoxing Guildhall, the Jiangnan Clothing Hall, and the ancient theater stage. Due to the dense concentration of historic houses and commercial shops, coupled with narrow streets and alleys, a fire could have had disastrous consequences. Therefore, to prevent fires, merchants in Shantang spontaneously organized a civilian firefighting group called the Long She, which was later renamed the Fire Station in the early years of the Republic of China. In 1925, local citizens established the Antai Fire Station next to Tongguan Bridge on Shantang Street as another civilian firefighting institution.

Although the merchants created this firefighting organization for their own benefit, it also greatly benefited the local residents at the time—an admirable initiative indeed.

In 2002, the Suzhou Municipal Government decided to restore the Shantang Historical and Cultural Preservation Area. During the protective restoration of Shantang Street, while ensuring the fire safety of the buildings, it was proposed—and subsequently implemented—to use the old site of the Antai Fire Station as a fire safety education base. As a result, the current site of the Antai Fire Station serves not only as a tourist attraction but also as an educational facility.

On the first floor of the old site, the Exhibition Hall of Historical Relics displays helmets, fire hooks, wooden buckets, and other tools used for firefighting in the past. It also features vivid clay sculptures depicting firefighters bravely battling blazes. The second floor, the Modern Hall, showcases various contemporary firefighting equipment and educational posters. All the exhibits convey the messages that “fire and water are merciless” and that “one must be prepared for danger in times of peace.”