| Guild Hall is a unique symbol of Chinese culture. Hu-Guang Guild Hall (HGGH) in Chongqing municipality is the largest buildings of ancient Guild Halls that reserved in urban area. Sheqi Shan-Shan Guild Hall in Henan province that born in the background of "salt kai-zhong" and "tea-horse trade" in the era of late Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty was known as "the first Guild Hall" by the insider. HGGH in Chongqing municipality that rose up with "Hu-Guang Fill Sichuan" movement is a migrant Guild Hall. Whether the Shan-Shan Guild Hall (SSGH) in Henan province that with strong commercial imprint or the HGGH in Chongqing municipality that gone hand in hand with migrant tide are the classic buildings of Ming and Qing dynasty. Guild Hall culture comprises a variety of knowledge concern anthropology, history, sociology, folklore, art, linguistics, architecture; and research materials of transportation history, economic history, and technical history as well. Predecessors have conducted lots of useful and valuable research on Guild Hall.Based on the author mainly absorbed the research achievements of history and sociology by conducting literature review and field investigation. According to the architectural and aesthetic views, this paper made a special-comparative research on Hu-Guang and Shan-Shan Guild Halls in Chongqing municipality and Henan province. This paper mainly focused on the general aesthetic characteristics of Guild Hall and the key points of HGGH and SSGH comparative research, such as the historical background, functions, characteristics, formation background, decorative art, aesthetic pursuits, contemporary values of HGGH and SSGH. By conducting the horizontal and lateral analysis, the author discovered the universal and individual characteristics and put forward the core thesis of this paper, that is Hu-Guang merchants and Shan-Shan migrants who as the lineal culture representatives in the course of society change in Ming and Qing dynasty, acclimated history tide, took their original culture as kernel and the culture where they lived for basis, combined with their survival and development needs and the environmental conditions, fully combined the possibilities of commercial trading and the natural living, retained the awareness of adds luster to the culture and culture reconstruction intentionally or unintentionally, created these temple architectures that embodies humanity and godship coexistence, and regional-native soil oriented. These temple architectures not only showed out the commercial civilization and migrant culture in China's Ming and Qing dynasty, but also presented the spirit vitality of the Chinese nation.Grounded on a huge quantity of field investigation materials; this paper investigated the architecture entities and took literature found and social investigation for reference and reviewed the ideas of Chinese traditional philosophy and architectural culture, compared to the Guild Halls. used the research method that from far to near, outside to inside; after combing, filtering and refining to the materials mentioned above, the author trying to dig out the real face and the internal temperament of Guild Hall architectures, unveil the native and regional culture values and the rural complex of HGGH and SSGH architectures, and connotations of Chinese traditional culture, religion and ethics that Guild Hall culture contained as well, so as to opening up a new way for the comparative research of Guild Hall culture, provide the protection and appropriate use of Guild Hall architecture and culture with the academic support. |
