Thirteen Guilds Guildhall

Thirteen Guilds Guildhall

The Thirteen Guilds Guildhall is a cultural relic protection unit of Henan Province.

The Thirteen Guilds Guildhall is located in the northwest corner of Yuzhou city proper, to the south of the Shanxi Guildhall and west of the Huai Guildhall. In the tenth year of the Tongzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty (1871), guild leaders including Guo Guangde, Lian Wenzhong, Pan Shengyan, Ruan Yaoxiang, Wang Lingyun, Chang Tianfu, Gao Youbang, Cai Hanwen, Hu Qianzhi, Wang Er'yuan, and Fan Tingdong donated funds to build the Thirteen Guilds courtyard walls and the Guan Yu Temple. In June of the twelfth year of the Tongzhi reign (1873), thirteen medicinal trade guilds—the Medicine Trade Guild, Medicine Shed Guild, Licorice Guild, Codonopsis Guild, Poria Guild, Jiangxi Guild, Huaiqing Guild, Qizhou Guild, Shaanxi Guild, Sichuan Guild, Laohékǒu Guild, Hankou Guild, and Ningbo Guild—pooled funds to purchase 1.33 hectares (20 mu) of land and jointly built the "Thirteen Guilds Guildhall." In the twentieth year of the Guangxu reign (1894), guild leaders Xu Changju, Wu Qing, and Geng Jinyong funded the construction of the Thirteen Guilds Temple of the Medicine God Hall and the opera theater. In the twenty-sixth year of the Guangxu reign (1900), the Thirteen Guilds Guildhall’s kitchen, infirmary, ancestral hall courtyard, Taoist courtyard, second gate, and screen wall were completed. In the twenty-ninth year of the Guangxu reign (1903), the Thirteen Guilds also built a meeting hall.

In terms of layout, the Thirteen Guilds Guildhall is divided into three parts: the temple courtyard, the central auxiliary courtyard, and the meeting hall. The temple courtyard is located on the western side of the guildhall and consists of a Nine-Dragon Screen, iron-wood flagpoles, the mountain gate, bell and drum towers, the opera theater, east and west corridor rooms, the worship platform, the worship hall, the main hall, and side halls. The overall architecture faces south and is built with a lower front and higher back, featuring a rigorous layout. Outside the mountain gate, the southern wall integrates with the Nine-Dragon Screen; inside the wall is an east-west brick-paved pathway, with the street-facing main gate at the eastern end. The Nine-Dragon Screen is constructed from glazed square bricks, with a massive square bluestone carved base at the bottom and coiling dragons that appear vividly lifelike. Outside the mountain gate, a pair of male and female stone lions stand on either side, and at both ends of the mountain gate are the bell and drum towers, which are octagonal, two-story structures. Beneath the opera theater, along the central axis, there is an arched passageway that leads directly to the rear main hall, flanked by high walls with large circular brick arch doorways. The temple courtyard is paved with red square stones, and in the center stands a lush Chinese scholar tree that provides ample shade. In front of the east and west wing rooms are cultivated precious roses, while ancient cypresses tower behind the rooms.

Proceeding along the central axis to the worship platform, the platform features double-sided steps with stone carvings embedded in the middle. The platform is three zhang (approximately 10 meters) square, enclosed by stone railings on the east, south, and west sides, with square pillars between the railings. The tops of the pillars feature exquisite carvings such as monkeys and peaches. Beyond the worship platform lie the worship hall and the main hall. The main hall is a wooden structure with a single-eave bracket set and is roofed with glazed colored tiles. Its five ridges are adorned with artistic decorations such as dragon-and-phoenix-patterned glazed bricks, mythical beast heads, and human figures. The four corners feature upturned eaves, making the structure delicate, unique, majestic, and spectacular. The central auxiliary courtyard greets visitors with a gatehouse topped with glazed tiles and featuring five ridges and six beasts. Entering through the gate, a bluestone-paved pathway runs along the central axis. The entire central auxiliary courtyard forms a quadrangle, with the north room serving as a spacious reception hall with three visible and five hidden bays, floored with blue bricks and glazed tiles, suitable for receiving guests or conducting business. The east wing courtyard functions as the meeting hall, used for receiving guests and hosting meals.

The Thirteen Guilds Guildhall has endured many trials. Major structures such as the Nine-Dragon Screen, iron-wood flagpoles, the mountain gate, and the bell and drum towers have all been lost. By the year 2000, only the founding stele of the Thirteen Guilds, one boundary stone, and two fan-shaped and two rectangular stone plaques remained. Among them, the fan-shaped plaques are inscribed with “Admire the Flowers” and “Savor the Wine,” respectively; the rectangular plaques bear the inscriptions “Erected Jointly by All Members of the Thirteen Guilds Guildhall in the Year of Gui Mao, Guangxu Reign” and “Erected Jointly by All Medicine Merchants in the Meeting Hall in the Year of Ding Wei, Guangxu Reign.” The boundary stone is inscribed at the top with “Five-foot-wide Remainder of the Wall Foundation,” the main text reads “Western Wall Boundary of the Medicine Guild Guildhall,” and the signature reads “Constructed in the Sixth Month of the Twelfth Year of the Tongzhi Reign.” The full text of the stele reads: “It was jointly resolved by all members that no houses within the temple shall be lent to outsiders. Should any member of this guild privately lend a house to an outsider, they will be fined ten banquet tables.” The signature reads “Erected in the Twenty-Ninth Year of the Guangxu Reign.”

In the early years of the Republic of China, during the era of warlord strife, the guildhall became a permanent encampment for warlord troops. In 1922, a unit of the Shaanxi Army led by Cao Shiying occupied the Thirteen Guilds Guildhall as its headquarters and engaged in fierce battles with the Red Spear Society around the guildhall. From 1926 to 1930, the Thirteen Guilds Guildhall was successively occupied for long periods by bandits and warlords such as Li Zhennai, Wang Laowu, and Liu Heiqi. In 1932, the Thirteen Guilds Guildhall was converted into an execution ground. Between 1936 and 1947, it was remodeled into the private Dongshan Middle School. In the winter of 1947, after the PLA Central Plains Military Region Headquarters moved from Baofeng to Yuxian, leaders such as Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping worked in the Thirteen Guilds Guildhall.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Henan Province