Former Site of Hunan Guild Hall (湖南会馆旧址)

Beijing Hunan-native officials built “Hunan Guild Hall” in August, 1887. The hall has a six-storied courtyard and a “Xiang county Guild Hall”with dozens of rooms, which was built by Zeng Guofan, a senior official in Qing Dynasty. One pair of stone lions squatted outside the vermeil door of the hall. South room wall was embedded with Changsha Xu Shujun’s handwriting in 1884.

The hall is also in charge of two public property and two ancestral temples. Hunan Guild Hall provided accommodation for those Hunan natives who came to Beijing to take an exam. After the founding of the Republic of China, it gradually becomes the sojourn place of Hunan natives who came to Beijing to study or make a living. It is said that Chairman Mao once stayed here for a period of time.