Qingjie Hall

Qingjie Hall

Qingjie Hall is located to the west of Huqing Pool on Renmin Road. In the ninth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1756), it was built with large donations from Ye Bomei and Li Hongzhang, specifically for young widows and their children, hence the name. In the fourth year of the Guangxu reign (1878), local gentry such as Ye Bomei earnestly petitioned Governor Yulu and received approval to rebuild it on the former site of the Anqing Communication Bureau and the Sanqing Hall of Mawang Temple.

Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, local officials and gentry, in an effort to uphold feudal ethics, encouraged women to remain chaste and faithful to their deceased husbands for life, leading them to enter Qingjie Hall. The widows who lived in the hall had to strictly follow its rules. Before the Anti-Japanese War, within over 200 numbered rooms (including 20 rooms with better living conditions, designated for widows from official or gentry families and called “special rooms”), they were only permitted to leave the hall on Qingming Festival to pay respects at their husbands’ graves. At all other times, they were not allowed to exit the hall gates and remained confined to their assigned rooms for the entire year. The hall was demolished in 1987 and rebuilt as the “Qingjie Hall Shopping Mall.”

Address: To the west of Huqing Pool on Renmin Road, Anqing City