Houzhou Jianning Guild Hall

Houzhou Jianning Guild Hall

The Houzhou Jianning Guild Hall is a cultural relic protection unit of Fuzhou City.

The Shanghang Road Jianning Guild Hall is located at No. 128 Shanghang Road, Taijiang District (formerly No. 63 Shanghang Road), also known as the "Jianjun Guild Hall." It was jointly funded and built by merchants from Jian'ou County during the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty. The guild hall is built against a hill, covering an area of approximately 280 square meters, and consists of a stage, restaurant, shrine, garden, and more.

The guild hall covers an area of 280 square meters, faces south with its back to the north, fronting Shanghang Street and backed by Damao Mountain. Built against the hill, it consists of a stage, restaurant, shrine, and other structures, with a red-brick and plain-rendered façade. The shrine is five bays wide and four bays deep, featuring a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof and a post-and-lintel wooden frame structure. Behind it lies a garden. In the garden stands a Wenchang Pavilion (originally used as a study), which is two stories high, octagonal in shape, with a diameter of 5 meters, a hip-and-gable roof, upturned eaves, and bold structural elements such as hanging pillars, bracket arms, brackets, and lattice-patterned window frames. During the Cultural Revolution, the garden was demolished and converted into residential buildings, but the Wenchang Pavilion still remains.

On February 13, 1905, people from all walks of life in Fuzhou gathered at the Jianning Guild Hall on Shanghang Street to protest against French businessman Wei Chi, who had secretly abducted 1,825 Fuzhou laborers (hidden in opium dens of various foreign firms) with the intent of shipping them to the Panama Canal as forced labor on the 16th. With the coordinated efforts of various sectors, all the abducted individuals were eventually rescued.

On February 15, 2016, it was announced as part of the seventh batch of municipal-level cultural relic protection units. The protected area extends: east to Caifeng Villa, west to the Gao Family Wenchang Pavilion, south to the residential buildings on the south side of Xiàháng Road, and north to the Taijiang District Party School.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Relic Protection Units in Fuzhou City