Authored by Rong Lang

A Cultural Tour in Pursuit of the Footprints of Shanxi Merchants

By walking, and by drawing upon a strength hidden deep in my heart, I sought to pursue and cultivate a spirit and culture of which we can be forever proud.

By Rong Lang

Content:

Over the course of nearly a year, a young Shanxi photographer records the guild halls built by Shanxi merchants all over China. He takes a dreaming tour around the whole country with his camera. Through his pictures, we can see both the past glories and miseries of Shanxi merchants. These guild halls, which have stood for hundreds of years, are now broken and lonely. Despite this, they still exude a special charm that enchants people and inspires them to follow and pursue a dream.

 

   Table of Contents

Introduction/1

Zhangye Shanxi Guild Hall

Suzhou Quanjin Guild Hall

Xuzhou Shanxi Guild Hall

Jiaxian Shanxi and Shaanxi Guild Hall

Anyang Shanxi Guild Hall

Huixian Shanxi Guild Hall

Sheqi Shanxi and Shaanxi Guild Hall

Luoyang Luze Guild Hall

Haicheng Shanxi Guild Hall

Luolun Shanxi Guild Hall

Liaocheng Shanxi and Shaanxi Guild Hall

Haozhou Shanxi and Shaanxi Guild Hall

Kaifeng Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu Guild Hall

Epilogue

 

 

Introduction

It all came so suddenly and naturally. It seemed that destiny had prepared me to travel and I had little choice but to accept my quest and begin my tour in twilight of an early spring. Despite the endless wind and rain, I had no other choice but to ceaselessly move forward.

My hometown is Lin County in Shanxi where it is dry and lean. This place has been famous for its poverty of the past. For people who were born and raised here - this was a hard fact to admit - but it was the truth. I myself have had this experience of poverty inscribed on my bones and I will delve into this later on in order to relieve some of my depression.

However, in my mind, my hometown has provided me both red memories and historical/cultural foundations. The meandering Yellow River runs through my hometown. This area is also home to the famous revolutionary base where Chairman Mao landed and continued northwards. It was here where he made his famous Yellow River crossing. Here too, an older generation of revolutionaries, like Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Ren Bishi, Dong Biwu, Ye Jianying, Chen Yi and He Long, also left their footprints.