Entity
Former Site of the Zhongshan Yong'an Company
Zhongshan, Guangdong, China
The site of the former Zhongshan Yong'an Company is located at No. 160 Sunwen West Road, Fengming Community, Shiqi Street, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, and was built in the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929). The site faces southwest with its back to the northeast, and the main building is a four-story arcade-style structure that blends Chinese and Western architectural elements. Currently, only the front corridor remains, measuring 8.18 meters wide, 4.1 meters deep, and covering an area of approximately 34 square meters. On either side of the arcade columns on the ground floor stand two Roman columns, with a plaque inscribed with "Bank of China" embedded at the top. The second floor features wooden windows and semi-circular window lintels. The central windows on the third and fourth floors are equipped with balconies, each adorned with stone columns in front. Above the fourth-floor window is an arched decorative element. Originally, above the fourth floor was a two-story domed attic, with the second level of the attic featuring a balcony and round-hole decorations on the doors.
Yong'an Company was founded by Guo Le and others in Hong Kong in 1907 and gradually expanded to Shanghai, Zhongshan, and other locations. In 1910, it established a banking department in Shiqi to attract overseas remittances and support business development. In 1915, the Shanghai Yong'an Company opened, adopting the business philosophy of "handling global merchandise sales and exporting various domestic products." Subsequently, Yong'an Company gradually expanded into the textile industry, becoming the second-largest textile enterprise in Shanghai. It integrated production and sales with Yong'an Company, promoting the development of domestic goods. While operating a global department store, Yong'an Company also engaged in recreational services, becoming a representative of the national department store industry at the time.