A great many banks were built in the Qianmen area to serve the commercial community. Early banks in the hutong area during the Ming and Qing Dynasties were often small but well guarded. In those days, silver was the major medium of exchange and banks dug vaults below their premises. Modern banking was begun in the 1800s. The Bank of China was originally set up under the Qing dynasty as its household bank, and it was later called the Qing Bank. In 1912, after the Revolution, the name was changed to the Bank of China.
This branch of the Commercial Bank 盐业银行 (Yányè Yínháng) shown above was designed by Shen Liyuan 沈理源 (Shěn Lǐyuán) in the 1920s. He drew ideas from classical Western architecture: from the Ionic columns set off by red brick, to the keystones above the windows. In 1928, Shen Liyuan designed the Tianjin main branch of the Commercial Bank. Tianjin was a major banking and trade center due to its harbor and the number of international firms that had offices there. He used a similar style on the Beijing bank shown in the picture above. The Commercial Bank 盐业银行 (Yányè Yínháng) was nationalized in 1952. There were no private banks in the young People's Republic and very few private industries. Everything was nationalized. The Commercial Bank became part of the People's Bank of China 中国人民银行 (Zhōngguó Rénmín Yínháng). The building above is now occupied by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Zhōngguó Gōngshāng Yínháng 前门中国工商银行. There is a modern photograph with more detail HERE. Below, the Bank of Communications 交通银行 (Jiāotōng Yínháng) was designed by Yang Tingbao 杨廷宝 (Yáng Tíngbǎo) about ten years later. He incorporated elements from both Western and Chinese design. Note the tiled roof on the door portico. The air conditioners were not part of the original plan, but they do help to date the picture as being taken after the 1960s. Yang Tingbao (1901 - 1982) was one of the leaders in modern architecture in China. He graduated from Tsinghua University (Qinghua University) in 1921 and went to the University of Pennsylvania for graduate study. He spent a year in Europe in 1926 and when he returned to China, he joined the Jitai Architecture firm 基泰工程司 (Jītài Gōngchéngsī) where he was the primary designer until 1949. He held teaching positions at various universities and became a Professor of Architecture at Nanjing University and in 1952 became the Chairman of the Department of Architecture at Nanjing Institute of Technology. |
http://hua.umf.maine.edu/China/HistoricBeijing/Qianmen/index.html
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update: August 2009
© Marilyn Shea, 2009