Former Site of the Fuzhou Branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

Former Site of the Fuzhou Branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

The former site of the Fuzhou Branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation is a cultural relic protection unit of Fujian Province.

The former site of the Fuzhou Branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation is located within the compound of a real estate development at No. 57 Meiwu Road, Cangshan District (originally No. 1 Hui Feng Lane), and was built during the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, it served as a branch office of HSBC in Fuzhou. The existing office building is a two-story (with basement) brick-and-wood structure in a colonial portico style. It was restored in 2009 and currently houses the Cangshan District Cultural Center. In January 2013, it was designated as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit as part of the "Yantai Mountain Modern Architectural Complex."

In the sixth year of the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (1867), The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation established a branch office in Fuzhou, located at No. 1 Hui Feng Lane, Dalin Ding, Nantai. In the seventh year of the Tongzhi era (1868), it was upgraded to a full branch, managed by the British F·G·Walker, under the jurisdiction of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Shanghai. During the Anti-Japanese War, the bank relocated to Chongqing in the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942), and returned to Fuzhou to resume operations after the war.

HSBC was a designated foreign exchange bank. In addition to handling remittances from overseas Chinese and import/export foreign exchange, its main businesses included negotiating bills for timber, dried bamboo shoots, and tea trades between Fuzhou and Shanghai or Tianjin. Its deposit clients were limited to two foreign trading firms — Yihe and Tianxiang (both British-owned), as well as institutions such as the Anglican Church, the Methodist Church in China, affiliated schools, and hospitals.

In 1945, during the period when the Sino-American Special Technical Cooperative Organization (SACO) forces were stationed in Fuzhou, the top floor of the HSBC building was used to set up an observation post to monitor Japanese ships on the Min River. Elsworth Smith, who served in SACO at the time, took a series of photos, which were later published online by his son Randy Smith. These photos include images of the former HSBC building and the observation post on its roof.

The branch was originally under the jurisdiction of the Shanghai office. In May 1949, after the People's Liberation Army captured Shanghai, contact with Shanghai was lost, and the Fuzhou branch came directly under the leadership of the Hong Kong head office. In August of the same year, the Hong Kong head office instructed the Fuzhou branch to cease operations. In August 1949, the People's Liberation Army captured Fuzhou. In September, the Fuzhou branch re-established contact with the Shanghai office, and officially ceased operations on October 20.

In 1947, HSBC was converted into the Fuzhou Private Tatting Nursing School, and the bank moved its operations to No. 27 Jinyue Road.

In 1952, the nursing school was taken over by the government, and the former bank site became staff housing for the Second Municipal Hospital.

In 2009, the former HSBC building was restored and incorporated into the real estate development "Julong Shangshuyuan." It has now been designated as the Cangshan District Cultural Center.

In January 2013, the former Fuzhou Branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was designated as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit as part of the "Yantai Mountain Modern Architectural Complex."