Taihe Pawnshop

Taihe Pawnshop

Taihe Pawnshop is a cultural tourism attraction.

Taihe Pawnshop is located at No. 37 and 39 Shixiang Lane, Fuhan Road, Zumiao Subdistrict (No. 39 being the Shixiang Pawn Tower), and was built in 1924. Its storage building faces south and has a rectangular floor plan, with a total width of 12.3 meters and a depth of 9 meters. The current site covers an area of only about 130 square meters. The building has five floors and a flat rooftop, with a total height of about 24 meters. It is a fortified-style structure made of reinforced concrete, brick, and wood, with each floor supported by reinforced concrete beams. The foundation is constructed from granite stone slabs, standing 1.4 meters high, and the walls are made of blue bricks, 0.42 meters thick, with small gun-slit-style stone-framed windows on each level. The main entrance is located in the center of the north side, fitted with thick cast iron doors. Wooden stairs lead to each floor, and the interior originally had pawned goods shelves on all floors from the first up. The storefront building of the pawnshop is still preserved today.

In October 2006, the Foshan Municipal People's Government designated Taihe Pawnshop as a cultural relics protection unit (it was designated as the Shixiang Pawn Tower in 1998).

Foshan’s pawnbroking industry dates back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, flourishing most during the Jiaqing, Daoguang, and Xianfeng periods of the Qing Dynasty. Historical records indicate that there were 36 shops scattered across various streets in Foshan at the time. During the Republican era, the pawnbroking industry in Foshan developed further compared to the Qing Dynasty, reaching its peak in 1931 with approximately 60 pawnshops of varying sizes.

Zumiao Subdistrict: Located in the northeastern part of Chancheng District, Foshan City, Zumiao Subdistrict borders Guilan Road to the east, Jihua Road to the south, Foshan Avenue to the west, and the northern bank of the Fenjiang River to the north. It covers an area of 21.5 square kilometers, with a population of about 600,000, and governs 64 administrative villages (residential committees). It is the core urban district of Foshan, home to the municipal Party committee and government offices. The subdistrict hosts the majority of Foshan’s city-level cultural, educational, medical, and social welfare institutions, making it the city’s current political, economic, commercial, and cultural center.

Profound historical and cultural heritage. Zumiao Subdistrict is the core area of Foshan, boasting a history of a thousand years... More details about Zumiao Subdistrict ++