Tucked away in a hutong area in downtown Beijing, the Huguang Huiguan, or the Huguang Guild Hall, a complex of buildings over 200 years old, is in the process of being reborn.

After over a year of renovations, it is finally ready to reopen as a theater for performances of traditional Chinese operas, among them Peking, Kunqu and Yueju opera.

The Huguang Guild Hall dates back to 1807 and was built by Liu Quanzhi, a scholar from Changsha in Hunan province, and Li Junjian, a government official from Huanggang in Hubei province. It originally functioned as a cultural, business, and social center, and served the increasing number of people from the two provinces living in the capital.

With its courtyards and halls, the complex is most famous for its center stage, where Peking Opera masters such as Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), Tan Xinpei (1847-1917) and Yu Shuyan (1890-1943), once performed.

"Everything has come together and we are just thrilled," says actor Song Yan, who heads the Beijing Fenglei Peking Opera Company.

On the night of Jan 10, the company put on a performance of Huguang Hui Meng, an opera production Song wrote especially for the Huguang Guild Hall, and which is currently in a trial run.

As giant red doors open, the audience is greeted by performers, who serve as narrators ushering them into the show's dream world. Since the show takes place at night, the performers hold red lanterns to light the way as they guide the audience around the complex.

The first performance space is a small courtyard located to one side of the complex, where actors do their training and rehearsals. The rooms here are packed with costumes, accessories, and stage props, and give the audience a backstage glimpse into an old Peking Opera troupe.

On the other side of the complex, an actress stationed on the second floor sings and dances from above. She practices the Peking Opera skill of playing "water sleeves" as she sings. Before wrapping up her performance, she allows her long sleeves to unfurl from the second floor to the ground, to the audience's delight.

To the characteristic sound of Peking Opera, the thin, high-pitched strains of the jinghu (a two-stringed fiddle) and the sharp, dry thump of the banggu (a frame drum), the show starts in the old, two-floor building, which is decorated with lanterns. Wooden tables and chairs are arranged around a stage in the middle.

Different characters are introduced as martial arts, songs and dances are performed by young Peking Opera actors. Song, who will turn 60 this April, brings the show to an end with a display of martial arts movements in tandem with the other young actors.

"The show is centered on the theme of meng, or dreams. We want to take audience back to the olden days, when Peking Opera masters regularly performed here. The building proves that there is more to heritage than age and architectural aesthetics. It is about memories, too," says Song. "I am proud to be performing here because it's where great Peking Opera masters once performed."

Born in Beijing and embarking on a career in Peking Opera at the age of 6, Song is director of the Beijing Fenglei Peking Opera Company, which was founded in 1937 and is dedicated to preserving the 200-year-old art form that is also known as jingju.

"I can still remember that when I was in my early 20s, I performed two shows a day at the Huguang Guild Hall, because lots of tourists, especially from the West, loved coming here to watch Peking Opera," says Song, who joined the company when he was 12 years old.

According to Xu Xiaohui, general manager of the Tianqiao Zenith Group, the Beijing-headquartered company in charge of the renovation of the guild hall, the complex has undergone several renovations. In 1984, it was placed on the cultural heritage protection list by the Beijing municipal government.

"This ancient complex is a wooden structure, so a key part of the renovation was to protect its buildings, while focusing on effective fireproof methods," says Xu. "Repair and reinforcement of the buildings was also very important."

After it opens formally to the public, the 2,000-square-meter complex is intended to become a new hub for tourists and fans of traditional Chinese opera.

Xu says that one highlight is a museum dedicated to the history of Peking Opera, where visitors can learn about the art form in the form of videos, pictures and books, and where they can get a close look at the costumes and stage props used by the masters of the past, an example of which is a costume made using the kesi technique — a pictorial silk tapestry technique — that was donated by the Beijing Fenglei Peking Opera Company. According to Song, it is over 100 years old. A paper fan, given by Mei Lanfang to Chen Delin (1862-1930) as a gift, is also on display.

There is also a space dedicated to the history of the Huguang Guild Hall. Song says that he is working on a new production, Night of the Museum, to teach audiences about Peking Opera, from its costumes and makeup, to the choreography used for hand and eye movements.

Beijing's guild halls first appeared during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and reached their peak during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when there were over 500 guild halls in the capital, mainly serving as functional spaces for students traveling from different parts of the country to take imperial examinations, and for the use of local officials.

Since 2021, the Beijing government has been busy reviving these old buildings and promoting their re-use.

"One of the most important aspects of keeping these old buildings alive is to protect them first. They are hundreds of years old, and when visitors enter, it is like traveling back to olden times, which makes the experience of attending a performance in them very special," Dong Ning, deputy general manager of the Beijing Performance and Arts Group, states in a previous interview.

In addition to the Huguang hall, increasing numbers of the city's old guild halls have been opened to the public, among them the Yanliao (Pigment) Guild Hall which was built by pigment merchants from Shanxi province in 1741, and the Shaozhou Guild Hall, which is 155 years old and was built by people from Shaozhou (modern day Shaoguan city) in Guangdong province. They have become new tourist sights, and present a range of programs, including live performances, exhibitions, and workshops highlighting items of intangible cultural heritage.

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