Shadow Spy

Chapter 60 Reception at Jiangnan Guild Hall

The Huguang Guild Hall is located on the edge of the Yangtze River at the eastern end of the Yuzhong Peninsula. It was built during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It includes the Guangdong Guild Hall, the Jiangnan Guild Hall, the Lianghu Guild Hall, the Jiangxi Guild Hall and four theater buildings, as well as the Guangdong Guild Hall, Qi'an Guild Hall and other buildings. It is large in scale. Covering an area of ​​nearly 3 square meters, it is built on the mountain and is well-proportioned. The palaces are majestic and spectacular, and the glazed tile theater building has cornices. The floor is covered with landscapes, city gates, geometric patterns, and exquisite carvings such as opera characters and the story of the 24 filial piety. It is the largest ancient guild hall building complex in central urban areas across the country.

After the wars in the late Yuan Dynasty and the turmoil in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the population of Chongqing (and even Sichuan) decreased sharply.According to "Tongzhi of Sichuan": "Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, Shu has a large population, facing each other with fireworks. After the war in the late Ming Dynasty, the population was as sparse as morning stars." By the time of the census in the 24th year of Kangxi's reign, it had experienced large-scale wars Sichuan (including what is now Chongqing) has a population of just over 9.

It was against this background that the Ming Dynasty officials began to implement the policy of "immigration to Sichuan". In the Qing Dynasty, this policy was not only continued, but the "Huguang filling of Sichuan" was larger in scale and lasted longer.

For more than a hundred years from the early Qing Dynasty to Jiaqing, the Qing government adopted a series of preferential policies to encourage people from more than ten provinces across the country to move to Sichuan in large numbers in view of the long-term war, sharp population decline, abandoned land, and lack of tax revenue.During this period, the population of Chongqing and surrounding areas grew from tens of thousands to nearly 300 million.

After people from various places who migrated from other places took root in Chongqing, they began to build various guild halls. This is how the thousands of guild halls in Chongqing came about. Among them, the largest number of guild halls are located in the main city, and most of them are concentrated in the lower half of Yuzhong, that is The area where Huguang Guild Hall is located today stretches along the Yangtze River to the original Chaotian Gate, Cuiwei Gate, Dongshui Gate, Renhe Gate, Chuqi Gate and Jinzi Gate.

Regrettably, many guild halls were completely destroyed due to urban construction in Chongqing and Japanese bombings and fires during the Anti-Japanese War. The Huguang Guild Hall is the best-preserved and most complete group of guild halls left.

The Jiangnan Guild Hall where the welcome reception was held this time, also known as Jiangnan Gongshu, was jointly funded and established by merchants from Jiangsu and Anhui provinces in Chongqing. Together with the Lianghu Guild Hall (Yu Palace), the Guangdong Guild Hall (Nanhua Palace), and the Jiangxi Guild Hall (Wanshou Palace) Adjacent to each other, they form the largest Huguang Guild Hall complex.

The buildings in the entire guild hall inherit more of the structural characteristics of the Hui-style school. The garden landscaping is mostly based on Jiangnan garden techniques. Tall firewalls appear repeatedly between the courtyards to divide the space into a number of small courtyards, connected by small doors. The space is not disconnected; each courtyard has its own unique function and corresponding scenery. The rockeries, flowers and plants, small bridges and flowing water, and the carvings and paintings on the corridors are all unique features. The complete space also contains uniqueness, which is exactly what Jiangnan is. The combination of the structural features of gardens and Anhui-style architecture.

At the same time, you can also see the architectural characteristics of Chongqing's region - the entire hall is built according to the mountain. The buildings have different heights, are scattered and winding, and there are patios and balconies in each courtyard. These are all traditional Anhui-style buildings. Features that the structure does not have.The decoration of the guild hall also has a strong Hui-style style. A large number of wood carving techniques are used from the Wannan (Huizhou) wood carving series. The flowing lines and lifelike figures, including humans, ghosts, gods, flowers, birds, and beasts, are all exquisite. , which is breathtaking to watch.
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Before the cocktail party began, a dedicated person led the delegation to visit the venue. The American guests were amazed by its spectacular or exquisite garden architecture.Linda and several women even exclaimed frequently, lamenting what they saw in front of them. When did they from the United States see such ancient cultural heritage? In addition to being amazed, they picked up the camera and started taking pictures, wishing they could capture everything they saw. All the scenery you see is included in the lens...

In his previous life, Li Junhao had been here before. At this time, he was "revisiting the old place" and was secretly comparing it in his mind. The remaining guild hall buildings in the 21st century have been renovated many times and are more dazzling and beautiful, but they lack the simplicity seen in front of them. Of course, there are actually regrets left.At this time, I saw someone taking pictures, and I immediately became interested and wanted to find a camera...

But when he looked around, he saw that everyone with cameras in the delegation was busy, and Assistant Brown was not around, so he couldn't find anyone to ask!Just when he was regretting, a voice sounded beside him: "Sir, do you need help?" Although the accent was a bit awkward, it was still fluent English.Li Junhao turned around and looked over. He was a tall and thin man wearing a black Chinese tunic suit. He looked about 35 or [-] years old. He had a bookish look on his face and bright eyes, which made him very fond of him. He smiled and said: "This club It’s beautiful, I just regret that I didn’t bring a camera so I couldn’t capture these precious memories!”

"This is easy to do!" the visitor said very proudly, then turned around and waved to a young man in casual clothes standing next to him, and said in Chinese: "Go find a better camera and get some more film. "The waiter immediately obeyed the order and ran away.

"Thank you." Li Junhao said, "I am Ognyan LI Panson, First Attaché of the Commercial Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai. May I ask you..."

"Hello, Mr. Pan Sen, I am Wen Qiang from the Sanji Radio Telecommunications Institute." The visitor extended his hand to shake his hand.

Is this actually Wen Qiang?Li Junhao was stunned when he heard this. He couldn't help but use some force to hold the other person's hand, feeling a little excited.He knew the origin of this person very well. In his previous life, he had watched a lot of spy movies and searched for a lot of information. He knew a lot about the organization Juntong. Wen Qiang was one of the most famous people.

Maybe it was because his right hand hurt from being held by Li Junhao. Wen Qiang frowned. Seeing this, Li Junhao hurriedly let go. He was a little embarrassed and directly said in Chinese: "Brother Nianguan, I'm glad to meet you!"

Huh?Now Wen Qiang was surprised. The young American in front of him could actually speak such pure Chinese!Originally, he intended to contact the American diplomat stationed in Shanghai in order to be a possible helper in his future lurking work in Shanghai. However, he did not expect that the other party gave him a big surprise, and he actually knew his "number" !This time, he no longer had to speak unsophisticated English, but also said in Chinese: "Mr. Panson, I didn't expect you to speak Chinese so well. This is rare among Americans!"

"Haha, I have learned this for a long time. Maybe it is because of this that I got the job I have now!" Li Junhao said a little self-deprecatingly, but he did not say why he learned Chinese. After all, the other party's status as a military commander still made it difficult for him to learn Chinese. He was wary.

(End of this chapter)