Dongshan Hakka: Getting Closer to a Peach Blossom Spring

Author: Xiao Ping / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The existing guildhall complex in Luodai Town has become a valuable historical material for studying the immigrant culture of Chengdu. From the condition of the remaining Guangdong Guildhall, Hunan-Guangxi Guildhall, and Jiangxi Guildhall, it can be seen that when migrants from other provinces arrived in Chengdu, they did not form interest groups based on ethnicity or culture, but rather alliances based on geographical kinship (provincial affiliation). Guildhalls were not only "temples" worshipped by migrants from other provinces but also materialized entities that displayed the power of migrants from different provinces. "Judging the size of each temple, one can know the prosperity or decline of the people." According to this principle, it is easy to see that in Luodai, the power of the Guangdong migrants was the largest, because whether in terms of architectural scale or the grandeur it exudes, the Guangdong Guildhall is more magnificent and imposing than the other two guildhalls. In the early Qing Dynasty, migrants from various provinces in Chengdu vigorously constructed guildhalls, not during the initial period of establishing themselves, but during the period of social stability and economic recovery when their entrepreneurial efforts succeeded. A solid material foundation and the nostalgia of the migrants prompted them to spend a lot of money to express their inner joy. A poem titled "Chengdu Zhuzhi Ci" says it well:
"The Qin Guildhall has iron masts,
Fujian and Shanxi have fewer.
More impressive is the place where
Over a thousand opera performances are staged every year.
Competing to build guildhalls in splendor,
They spent billions of silver without hesitation.
In a specific historical context, when the old Ba-Shu land was devastated by war, plague, and hunger, the migrants, after a hard entrepreneurial journey akin to tasting bitterness and sleeping on ashes, finally succeeded and became the rightful masters of this land. At this time, they reversed their previous frugality and thrift, spending large sums of money to build guildhalls to express their joy and pride after their entrepreneurial success.
The Guangdong Guildhall in Luodai Town was first built in the 11th year of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty (1746 AD) and covers a total area of over 3,000 square meters. From the nearly 10 stone pillars and couplets that remain, today's Guangdong Guildhall is smaller in area than its original size, as a large fire once destroyed part of the buildings. Later, the Guangdong people in Nanluodai raised funds to rebuild it. P54-55