The Quanjin (Shanxi province) Guild Hall, also known as the Shanxi (northern Chinese province) Guild Hall, at No14 Zhangjia Alley, off Pingjiang Rd, was listed as the municipal cultural relics unit in 1963, and as a provincial cultural relics unit in 1982.

The guild hall was originally established in the 30th year of the Qianlong emperor, of the Qing Dynasty (1765), when merchants from Shanxi province doing business in Jiangsu province came up with the idea and opened it at the side of the Bantang Bridge, on Shantang St, Changmen Gate. The building was destroyed during the fighting in the 10th year of the Xianfeng emperor (1860).

A new guild hall covering about 6,000 square meters was gradually built from 1879 to the early 1900s, facing south. The central section consists of an entry gate, theatrical platform, and main hall. The entrance has a single-eave roof and is three-rooms wide and five-rooms deep. The black lacquer doors have gods painted on them in a variety of colors. There is a pair of drum stones in front of the door. The quarter is separated by pillars, into a Chinese cherry apple room in the front and a crane shank room in the back. The roof beams are decorated with opera lines and patterns in relief.

On both sides of the entrance there are the water-stone walls, with engraved dragons, surrounded by tangled branch patterns. The roof tiles go to the ridge and the square columns under the eaves are carved with classical local operas. The stone seats below the walls are inscribed with the words “Deer and crane celebrate spring” and “Lion playing with silk ball”.

Behind the left and right walls there are square drum pavilions with single-eave roofs that intersect with the gable of the entrance gate. In the old days, the gate faced the river and the entrance screen had the words “Uprightness of heaven and earth” engraved on it, but unfortunately this was dismantled in the late 1950s to provide fill for the river.

The theatrical platform has two floors. On the ground floor there was a front door and several corridors, while the platform itself has an extended stage that is five-rooms wide backstage, and wing-rooms to each side. The platform has a saddle roof with two fake warps flying in opposite directions. The beams are decorated with dragons, phoenixes, and local opera patterns. At the front there is a pair of engraved wooden flower baskets and lions. The stage is 6.5 meters wide, 6 meters deep and almost 3 meters high. The ridge is about 10 meters above the ground. There is a panel on the ceiling about three meters in diameter and two meters high, consisting of 632 wood carvings and rotating ornaments, giving a splendid, magnificent effect and help with the acoustics. It is Suzhou’s most exquisite classical theater.

The main hall faces the theater platform and is five-rooms wide, with a semicircular tile ceiling. The floor is 1.3 meters above the ground. In Jan 1976, it was damaged by a fire, and the current main hall was rebuilt in 1986 by shifting the girders of the Lingjiu Temple, with a single-eave roof to make it look spacious.

The eastern quarter has four courtyards, three-rooms wide, with an entrance gate, main hall, and front and back buildings, connected along the wings. It is occupied by local people. The western quarter has an entrance gate, and Guihua (or Yuanyang) and Nanmu halls that are separated by a courtyard that is decorated with stones, a pond, flowers, and trees for an exquisite, petite look.

In the old days, Suzhou had more than 100 guild halls and Quanjin has preserved the essence of that original architecture and is typical of most guild halls. The central quarter was used to receive guests, perform sacrificial rites for ancestors, and put on plays. The architectures follows a temple pattern, with high ridges and semicircular tiles. The Shanxi-style engraving gave them an imposing, solemn look. The eastern and western quarters were used by merchants for meetings, lodging, storing goods, or as an office and resemble Suzhou gardens to some degree.

From 1958 to 1984, the Quanjin Guild Hall was used at various times by the chemical industry, as a plastics plant, eyeglass plant, optical apparatus plant, camera plant and a school of the machinery industry. The eastern and western quarters were used as residences. By the late 1970s and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the buildings had been seriously damaged, the main hall had been burnt, and the theatrical platform was about to collapse.

Repair work on the guild hall began in Oct 1983 and, by June 1984, all the work units had been moved out. The central and western quarters were given a great deal of attention, the main hall and courtyards were rebuilt, and the guild hall regained its original features. The eastern quarter and the rooms in the northwest corner still needed repairs.

In Oct 1986, the Quanjin Guild Hall opened to the public as the Suzhou Traditional Chinese Opera Museum. It held a variety of exhibitions on Kunqu opera, Pingtan, Suju opera, and traditional Chinese musical instruments. There were shows intended to bring back the classical traditions on the theatrical platform and a Qing Dynasty-style tea garden. Since the reforms and opening up of the late 1970s, some 200,000 people from China and abroad have visited the Quanjin Guild Hall, giving it a greater social impact.