The Exploration Analysic Of Guild Hall Culture Of ChangSha

The guild hall is an organization set up by countrymen in a city outside their hometown in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In broad sense, it refers to an urban liaison organization conducted by self-management of the folk mass, including provincial or country assembly hall and the guild hall among people of the same industry. Due to the development of commodity economy and the implementation of the imperial examination system in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the gentry and public classes developed rapidly and population movements become more frequent. In order to facilitate the industrial development and the self-management of floating population, the guild hall came into being and continued to rise, prosper, change and transform in accordance with the social development. In narrow sense, the guild hall mainly denotes the existence form of urban cultural artifacts system, manifesting itself not only in the specific form of housing construction but also in a unique urban culture.Enjoying an advantageous geographical location, Changsha has been the political, economic, cultural and military hub in the central south region since the establishment of the prefecture in the Qin dynasty. The regional advantage promoted social and economical development of Changsha and attracted a large number of outsiders to come to conduct trade activities as well. In order to strengthen solidarity and competitiveness, these outsiders began to set up guild halls, association halls and other self-help civil organizations in Changsha city, Liuyang and Ninxiang regions etc.The guild hall in Changsha mainly included three types, namely the fellow hall, the imperial examination hall and the association hall. However, some fellow halls also functioned as the imperial examination halls or the association halls, a synthesis of the three. The fellow hall was mainly concerned with how to manage the country fellows who came to Changsha, providing reunion parties, sacrifice ceremonies and charity activities for them. The imperial examination hall, set up by people within Hunan province but from outside Changsha region, mainly provided accommodation for people who came to Changsha to participate in imperial examination or seek job. The association hall, with industry as its bond, consisted of members within the same industry or from the same other part of Hunan Province, which, to some extent, inhibited the vicious competition of commodities and promoted the sound development of economy. Moreover, during its process of formation and development, the guild hall in Changsha developed its unique culture, for example, the exquisite buildings of guild halls, magnificent hall stages, hall couplets abundant in connotations, mysterious gods culture.With the social, economic and cultural development and the invasion of the foreign capitalism, the guild halls, as the products of the traditional society, diverged in their paths of development in the late Ming dynasty and the early Qing dynasty. Some were gradually on the wane, and others were on the way of being transformed to keep up with the modern times. The transformed guild halls gradually abandoned the feudality and backwardness, and with constant self-improvement they adapted to the society and further promoted the social development.Currently, very little remain of the guild halls, but they are still valuable cultural heritages in the development of Changsha city. If the remained guild halls can be restored with appropriate measures and in accordance with relevant regulations, they will not only contribute to expand tourist resources of Changsha city but also enrich its cultural connotation and improve its cultural taste.