Huiguan
Huiguan (會館 / 会馆huìguǎn ) are social forms of organization and buildings that arose under the special historical conditions of the Ming and Qing dynasties . The word means something like meeting place. They served the members of foreign country teams as a point of contact for various problems far from their home.
Both the meeting houses and the organizations that established themselves in the houses are named with Huiguan. In the respective places, they served the members of foreign country teams (in the sense of regional origin) as a contact point for the most diverse problems far from their home. The term "guild" or "guild" used in German and also in English. “Guild” as translation is a bit misleading because the Huiguan were not the organization and meeting house of a profession. Even if, for example, mainly dealers (but not exclusively) met in the so-called “dealer Huiguan”, it was only dealers from a specific region.
Types of Huiguan
Although the Huiguan were open to all members of a country team, they are generally divided into the following types according to the prevailing visitors or the reason for their creation:
- Merchant Huiguan,
- Huiguan for participants in the official exams and
- Immigrant Huiguan.
- Chambers of Commerce (they emerged from the change in function of the Huiguan mentioned above)
Merchant Huiguan
During the era of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty (1573–1620), the first Huiguan were founded by traders in Suzhou. They soon appeared in other important trading centers as well. Most of the Ming and Qing Huiguan were merchant Huiguan. They were in all the great cities and trading centers of the empire.
Trader Huiguan can also be found in small towns that were important marketplaces in their time, but no longer play an important role in the country's economic life, such as in Daxu near Guilin in the Guangxi Autonomous Region .
Huiguan for those taking part in the official exams
In Beijing, during the heyday of the imperial official examination system, Huiguan emerged, in which the examinees and members of the foreign country teams - foreign officials who had been ordered to Beijing, but also merchants who tried their luck in Beijing - met. The Huiguan system then spread from Beijing to the provincial metropolises.
Immigrant Huiguan
During the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, too, there were large population movements in many parts of China. Some of them were flows of refugees, caused by wars or major rebellions, and others were used to repopulate areas depopulated by wars, epidemics and natural disasters.
Immigrant Huiguan helped the migrants to adjust to the new living environment. Here information was exchanged and the immigrants found help and protection in the fight for their rights and interests. Over time, the Huiguan became influential political, religious, social, and economic organizations. The initiators and builders of the immigrant Huiguan were above all wealthy merchants.
Chambers of Commerce
From the mid-19th century, the function of the Huiguan changed as a result of the political and economic changes that took place in China. The focus of the Huigun shifted away from a cultural center of the compatriots towards a system of chambers of commerce.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e http://www.stadtkultur-international.de/pubgui/Long_Bin_ch.pdf ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ china-enthaben.com. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved December 28, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
