Discover Chongqing
Huguang Guild Hall
湖广会馆
The largest surviving migrant guild hall complex in China, built by settlers from Hubei and Hunan during the great Qing resettlement of Sichuan. Carved timber theatres and courtyards sit incongruously beneath the expressway on the riverbank.
The story
What makes this place special
The Huguang Guild Hall near Dongshuimen is a complex of Qing guild buildings put up by migrants and merchants from Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangxi — the people of the 'Huguang filling Sichuan' resettlement that repopulated the province after the upheavals of the 17th century. Sources disagree on the founding, placing it in the Kangxi or the Qianlong reign; much of what stands was rebuilt in 1846 (Daoguang 26). It is three associations in one site: the Yuwang Palace, dedicated to Yu the Great as a controller of floods; the Qi'an Hall, dedicated to the Dizhu deity; and the Guangdong Hall, dedicated to the Chan patriarch Huineng. Chongqing and Yuzhong district governments spent close to 200 million yuan restoring the core buildings between late 2003 and September 2005.
What you’ll discover
A set of walled courtyards stepping up the hillside above the Yangtze, entered from the lower city. Each association has its own gate, courtyard and main hall; the carved timber screens and the opera stage are the best of the surviving work. A small museum explains the migration itself, which is the real subject of the place — the halls existed so that people a thousand miles from home could meet others who spoke their dialect. From the upper terraces you look over the river and the bridge.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Read the migration displays before walking the halls. Without them this is three pretty courtyards; with them it is the physical record of one of the largest internal migrations in Chinese history.
- The wood carving on the screens and the opera stage is the thing to look at closely, and the light inside the halls is poor — go on a bright day or you will miss it.
- It is almost always nearly empty, which is unusual for central Chongqing. Allow an unhurried hour or more.
- Combine it with the Dongshuimen old wall and the stilt houses just downhill — a short walk that few visitors make.
- If an opera or storytelling performance is scheduled on the stage, it is worth rearranging your day for; ask at the ticket desk.
When to come
Late afternoon on a weekday, for low light through the courtyards and the river view from the upper level.
Getting around
Poor. The whole complex is built in terraces up a hillside and movement between courtyards is by flights of stone steps, with high thresholds at the hall doors and no lifts. A wheelchair user can see the entrance courtyard only. A bad knee can manage with a stick and frequent stops, but expect several substantial stair flights.
Worth knowing before you go
Combine it with the Dongshuimen old city wall and the glass-floored Dongshuimen Bridge next door - the three together make the best hour of walking on the peninsula.
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