Former Site of the Nian Army Alliance

Former Site of the Nian Army Alliance

The Former Site of the Nian Army Alliance is a cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.

Former Site of the Nian Army Alliance

Located within the courtyard of the “Shanxi Guild Hall” in Xi Guan, Woyang County. In the second year of the Xianfeng reign (1852), Zhang Lexing and various Nian Army forces gathered at the Shanxi Guild Hall to form an alliance, unanimously electing Zhang Lexing as their leader to launch an armed uprising against the Qing Dynasty. The Shanxi Guild Hall at the Former Site of the Nian Army Alliance was funded and built by Shanxi merchants, featuring a grand overall architectural structure. The main gate faces south, with three rows of buildings in total and two courtyards. A pair of stone lions stand on either side of the gate, and a stone plaque inscribed horizontally with the four characters “Shanxi Guild Hall” hangs above the door. A pair of stone drums flank the second gate, and passing through the central hall leads to the rear courtyard; the rear hall consists of five rooms with a brick-and-wood structure, covered with multicolored glazed tiles. In front of the main hall stands a bronze incense burner, where the Nian Army took oaths and pledged allegiance to heaven and earth during their alliance. The old buildings were damaged multiple times during the Qing army’s campaigns against the Nian. In 1938, they suffered further bombing by Japanese forces. In the early years after liberation, only one stone plaque and one stone stele, along with one pair of stone lions and one pair of stone drums, remained. In 1962, the People’s Committee of Anhui Province allocated funds to rebuild five houses on the original site as commemorative structures for the Nian Army alliance and uprising. It is a key cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.