Yangguan

Yangguan

Yangguan is a cultural relic protection unit of Hangzhou City.

Yangguan is located within the site of the Second People's Hospital at Gongchen Bridge.

In 1895, after the Qing government’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, forcing Hangzhou to open as a trading port. That October, it was agreed that land near Gongchen Bridge would be allocated for Japanese residents and trade activities. The establishment of the Public Trading Market and the Japanese Concession officially tore open Hangzhou’s doors to foreign commerce, prompting Britain, the United States, and other countries to request land leases within the market area for business operations. The Governor of Zhejiang had no choice but to “reply affirmatively to the various nations,” and the Gongchen Bridge area soon became a playground for imperialist powers to conduct business, invest, and exploit resources. In response to this situation, in June and July of 1896 (the 22nd year of the Guangxu reign), the Qing government established a “customs house” in Hangzhou to open the port for trade. At the time, Hangzhou’s “customs house” was officially called the “Office of the Commissioner of Customs, Hangzhou,” commonly referred to as the “Yangguan.” The customs office was built in the Gongchen Bridge Trading Market (currently within the site of the Second People’s Hospital of Hangzhou). On October 1, 1896, the Hangzhou Customs, along with the trading market and the Japanese Concession, officially began operations. At the time, the Hangzhou Customs was the city’s principal tax collection authority and a hub for goods entering and leaving the city. On the eve of the Japanese occupation of Hangzhou in December 1937, the Hangzhou Customs withdrew and relocated elsewhere. Although the Customs was ordered to resume operations at its original location after the victory in the War of Resistance, it was no longer situated at Gongchen Bridge. It officially closed on December 4, 1945. During the War of Resistance, several buildings left behind by the “Yangguan” at Gongchen Bridge were once used as the headquarters of the Japanese Kempeitai. After the war, part of the “Yangguan” became the office of the Kuomintang’s Hang County Government, while another part was allocated as dormitories for the Agricultural Research Institute. In the early years after liberation, the entire “Yangguan” complex belonged to the Agricultural Research Institute, until it was taken over by the Second People’s Hospital of Hangzhou in 1954.

The three surviving buildings of Yangguan are now located within the inpatient building complex of the Second People’s Hospital of Hangzhou. The North Building currently houses the hospital’s General Affairs Office, the East Building serves as dormitories for trainees, and the South Building functions as the hospital’s pharmaceutical warehouse. These three structures are arranged in a “品” (Chinese character for “item”) formation, interspersed with later-added medical facilities. The East, South, and North Buildings all have rectangular floor plans, are two stories high with brick-and-wood structures, feature red exposed brick exteriors, and predominantly exhibit an imitation British “arcaded veranda” style in their facades. The roofs are sloped with short and shallow eaves.

The construction of Yangguan is closely linked to the unique historical circumstances of the Gongchen Bridge area during a specific period in Hangzhou’s history, making it an important “window” into the city’s modern past. The surviving architecture of the “Yangguan” reflects the characteristics of China’s semi-feudal and semi-colonial era, providing tangible material for future generations to understand and study the architecture of that time.