Before the provincial division in the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, there was no native-place guild hall for Hunan people in Beijing. In 1872, during the 11th year of the Tongzhi period, Tan Jixun—the father of Tan Sitong—and several other Hunan officials in Beijing purchased an official residence in Beibanqian Hutong to serve as the public property of Hunan Province.
In August 1887, during the 13th year of the Guangxu period, these officials acquired another house in Lanman Hutong, facing south at Caishikou, and established the ‘Hunan Guild Hall’. Adjacent to this, on the middle west side of Lanman Hutong, stood the county guild hall ‘Xiangxiang Guild Hall’, which featured six courtyards and dozens of rooms. This hall was founded by Zeng Guofan, an influential official of the Qing Dynasty.
A short walk south from the ‘Xiangxiang Guild Hall’ leads to the provincial guild hall, the ‘Hunan Guild Hall’. According to the records in ‘Beijing Hunan Guild Hall’, the hall comprised 36 rooms, including a stage, a Wenchang Pavilion, an east hall office, a Wangheng Hall, a west hall, and a central courtyard, all of which were spacious and served as gathering places during ordinary times.
Outside the vermilion gate of the guild hall, a pair of stone lions could be found squatting. On the south wall, there was a stele—the Stele of Chenkui Pavilion of Guangli Temple in Ayu King of Mingzhou—which was copied and engraved by Xu Shujun of Changsha in 1884, during the 10th year of the Guangxu period. The guild hall also oversaw two public cemeteries and two ancestral halls.
The Beijing Hunan Guild Hall served as a resting place for Hunan students who came to Beijing to participate in the imperial examinations.Later, it gradually became a place for Hunan fellow-townsmen and students to study or make a living in Beijing.
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