Huguang Guild Hall

The Huguang Guild Hall at 3 Hufang Lu in Beijing's Xicheng district is one of the few surviving traditional Peking Opera theatres in the city. It was founded in 1807 as a meeting place for officials and merchants from the provinces of Hunan and Hubei - Huguang was their combined name. Politically the building matters because Sun Yat-sen formally founded the Kuomintang here in 1912. Above all the hall is famous as a stage for Peking opera legends such as Mei Lanfang and Tan Xinpei, who performed in front of wooden galleries on the raised platform stage. The restored theatre now hosts polished tourist-friendly opera evenings, and a small attached museum documents costumes, masks and the history of the form.