Ganzhou Guangdong Guild Hall

In 1866, Guangdong merchants built a sanctuary of commerce and memory at the mouth of Tianluoling Lane on Xijin Road. They transported glistening glazed tiles from the historic kilns of Shiwan in Foshan, along with polished bluestone and timber, to construct the Ganzhou Guangdong Guild Hall, a Lingnan-style building with a floor area of 947.2 square meters.

Outside, curved bow-style fireproof gables cut a sharp silhouette against the Jiangxi sky. Two stone lions, carved in the founding year of 1866, guard the entrance on bases decorated with high-relief carvings. Above them, a stone lintel bears the gilded name of the hall, crowned by a headstone carved with double phoenixes facing the sun.

Inside, the layout follows a traditional three-road, three-entry configuration. Moon gates and side corridors connect the courtyards, leading to rooms decorated with gleaming red and gold lacquer. On the roof ridges, grey plaster and ceramic reliefs depict scenes from Journey to the West and Romance of the Western Chamber. Deep within, a gilded wooden screen, intricately carved in multiple layers, carries the ancestral instruction to revere ancestors and inspire the young.

The hall has witnessed the tides of changing eras. In October 1926, the quiet courtyards became the headquarters of the Ganzhou General Trade Union. On November 3, 1926, workers gathered here for their first representative congress, electing labor leader Chen Zanxian as chairman of the Ganzhou General Trade Union. Decades later, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the building housed a local dyeing and weaving factory, its walls absorbing the smell of dye and the clatter of looms.

Time weathered the timber. Yet human memory ensured its survival. In 2013, as part of the Yugutai Historical and Cultural District restoration project, a seventy-four-year-old former student named Yuan Zhangzhen drew the hall's layout from childhood memory to guide the craftsmen. Today, the restored hall serves as a public memorial and exhibition hall, displaying exhibits on Chen Zanxian and the History of the Ganzhou Workers' Movement. Now recognized as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit, it continues to stand as a testament to the commercial and revolutionary legacy that began over a century and a half ago.