Dongping Daya

Dongping Daya

Dongping Daya is located at the junction of Zhongshan Fourth Road and Yuexiu middle road in Guangzhou. Dongping Daya (also known as the former site of Dadongmen pawnshop blockhouse in Qing Dynasty), a pawnshop blockhouse with a history of more than 100 years, is one of the landmarks of old Guangzhou. After it was transformed into the first pawn Museum in the mainland, it was opened to the public free of charge.

history

"Dongping Daya" ancient watchtower is located at No. 1, Zhongshan 4th Road, close to the gate tower of the east gate of Ming Dynasty. This blockhouse shaped pawnshop was built in the Qing Dynasty, commonly known as "Dadongmen pawnshop", which was the second largest pawnshop in the city at that time. It echoes with another pawnshop at the west gate of Zhongshan seventh road - "Baosheng Daya".

The plane of the ancient building is square, with five stories in the north and four stories in the south. The facade of the building is like a watchtower. Today, the warehouse building, which only has pawnshops, has windows on all sides. The windows are large inside and small outside. The granite window cover and the parapet on the roof make the whole building appear like a blockhouse. It was designated as a municipal cultural relic of Guangzhou in 1999.

More than a hundred years ago, there were more than 400 pawnshops in Yangcheng, so that it was known as "pawnshops are more than rice shops". Today, most of them have gone up in smoke. Only a few blockhouse pawnshops in the old city are impressive. Dongping Daya, located at the junction of Zhongshan Fourth Road and Yuexiu Middle Road, is one of them. Dongping DAA, which has been standing for one hundred years, has witnessed the rise, decline, honor and disgrace of the Yangcheng event.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, on the North Bank of the Pearl River in Guangzhou, the total length of the old urban area was only about 4 km from the east to the West. There were many low rise bungalows in the old urban area. The commanding heights of the City were the sea floor, stone chamber (Shengxin Cathedral), Liurong tower and Guangxiao tower. The rest of the landmark buildings were six pawnshops, which were arranged from west to East, namely Xiguan Daya (Xiguan) and Baode Da (Baode) They are Baoqing Zhongyue, Diji Daab, Changxing Daab, Baosheng Daab and Dongping Daab. The six pawnshops are all higher than the skyline of the whole city. The highest pawnshop is Xiguan Daab, the second is Dongping Daab, and the third is Baosheng Daab.

In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the pawnbroking industry in Guangzhou was at its peak. There were more than 400 pawnbrokers in the city. It was really "more pawnbrokers than rice shops". It was mainly concentrated in Xiguan, a prosperous commercial area. At that time, there was a popular saying that "to find old pawnbrokers, first come to Xiguan.". At that time, going in and out of the bank was a sign of respectability and prosperity, and getting involved in pawnshops was regarded as a black sheep's behavior. Therefore, in the middle of the entrance of pawnshops, there must be a tall screen, commonly known as a "Mask", to block the sight of pedestrians.

After the 1930s, new banks in Guangzhou began to open one after another, and the Pawnbroking Business was constantly squeezed. Coupled with the political turmoil, Pawnbroking Business was difficult. Eventually, it turned from prosperity to decline, and a number of pawnbrokers "held the hat".

Museum display

The first floor of pawn museum is the main exhibition hall, which restores the high counter and pawn scenes of pawnshops in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.

The second floor shows the literature and history materials, pictures and objects of modern pawn.

The third floor shows the development and innovation of modern pawnbroking, and also serves as a forum for appreciation and knowledge of various pawnbroking items.

Besides Macao, Dongping Daya in Guangzhou is the first pawn Museum in the mainland.

Opening Hours

Dongping pawn museum is open from 9:30 to 16:30 every day and closes on Mondays.

In order to protect the buildings and cultural relics, the museum, with a construction area of about 400 square meters, can accommodate about 15-30 visitors at one time

characteristic

Dangzi, also known as huazi, is an abbreviated font created by the old pawnshop to write pawnshop tickets for convenience. There are more than one thousand "Dang" characters, and three or four hundred are commonly used.

It is said that learning this kind of writing is a compulsory course for pawn industry apprentices. Because this kind of character is strange and scribbled, the layman can't recognize it at all, so Guangzhou neighborhood also vividly called it "ghost pictorial".

Address: No.1, Zhongshan 4th Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province

Longitude: 113.278489

Latitude: 23.126705