Wing On Hall

Wing On Hall

Wing On Hall is a protected cultural heritage site of Guangzhou.

Wing On Hall is located at No. 149 Yanjiang West Road, Yuexiu District.

Guangzhou’s Wing On Hall was the site where patriotic businessman and overseas Chinese leader Hu Wenhu, known as the “King of Tiger Balm,” produced and distributed Tiger Brand Medicated Oil in China during the 1930s. The building originally stood on the site of Haizhu Park. Wing On Hall was once the second tallest building in Guangzhou, after the Aiqun Building. It was later taken over by the government, and in the 1990s, after being returned to the Hu family, Hu Wenhu’s daughter, Dr. Hu Xian, donated the building for use as the Guangzhou Children’s Library.

“Wing On Hall” is situated on Yanjiang Middle Road in Guangzhou. Originally the property of the renowned overseas Chinese entrepreneur, newspaper publisher, and philanthropist Hu Wenhu, it now houses the Guangzhou Children’s Library and is also a protected cultural heritage site of Guangzhou.

Hu Wenhu (1882–1954) inherited his father’s Wing On Hall Chinese medicine shop in Nanyang (Southeast Asia) in 1908, and later developed it into a pharmaceutical enterprise. He improved his father’s “Yu Shu Shen San” remedy into “Tiger Brand Medicated Oil,” which could be applied externally or taken orally, was convenient to carry, and became a best-selling “must-have travel remedy” across Southeast Asia and China.

Although Mr. Hu was from Fujian, he had a special fondness for the treasured land of Guangzhou. In the early 1930s, he returned to Guangzhou to set up a branch factory and built the Wing On Hall building along the Pearl River as the main production and distribution site for Tiger Balm in his homeland. As a result, locals in Guangzhou commonly referred to the building as the “Tiger Brand Medicated Oil Building.” One of the ancient “Eight Scenic Spots of Yangcheng,” the “Moonlit Pearl River” view, was located on the scenic Haizhu Island (historically known as Haizhu Rock). In the late 1920s, the northern channel of the island was filled in to become part of the long embankment. The Wing On Hall building is situated at the eastern end of the former Haizhu Island, and has become one of the landmarks helping people today recall the past and identify the location of Haizhu Island.

Wing On Hall is grand and majestic in appearance, with a concise design. It features a large clock tower visible from afar, making it the tallest clock tower in 20th-century Guangzhou and the second tallest building in the city during the Republican era, after the Aiqun Building. The building presents its most striking profile when viewed westward from Haizhu Bridge.

Starting in 1950, the building served as the headquarters of the Guangdong Provincial General Labor Union. In 1994, the ownership of the building was returned to Dr. Hu Xian, the daughter of Hu Wenhu. A renowned overseas newspaper publisher, Dr. Hu donated the building to the Guangzhou Municipal Government to establish the city’s first children’s library. Since then, the “flowers of the motherland” have happily browsed books here, and the site has become one of the cultural highlights of Guangzhou.

The site of Wing On Hall was originally home to Haizhu Park, built by the Guangzhou Municipal Government in 1928 on the location of Haizhu Rock. The park was originally connected to the land via a pontoon bridge to Changdi Avenue. Before land reclamation, the eastern end of Haizhu Park housed Hu Wenhu’s Wing On Wharf, which once featured a statue of Cheng Biguang. In 1931, when the New Bund (commonly called the new fill-in area, now Yanjiang West Road) was expanded, Haizhu Rock was buried underground and became part of the new bund. The original statue of Cheng Biguang was moved and placed in front of the eastern side of Wing On Hall.

In October 1949, before the liberation of Guangzhou, the Wing On Hall building was temporarily used to support frontline combat operations. Later, Hu Wenhu was once labeled a “traitor,” so the building was categorized as “enemy property” and confiscated, becoming the site of the Guangdong Provincial Labor Union. The words “Tiger Brand Wing On Hall” on the clock tower were destroyed. In the 1960s, the statue of Cheng Biguang in front of Wing On Hall was also removed and replaced with the current sculpture Workers by Chen Benzong and Ling Zhenwei.

In 1994, the Guangdong Provincial People’s Government decided to return the ownership of Wing On Hall to Hu Wenhu’s daughter, Hu Xian. Hu Xian had initially planned to use the building at No. 149 Yanjiang West Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, as an office site for investing in media ventures, but later donated it to the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government for social welfare purposes.

In August 1993, it was designated as part of the fourth batch of Protected Cultural Heritage Sites of Guangzhou by the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government.

Further reading:

· Fourth Batch of Protected Cultural Heritage Sites of Guangzhou