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Zigong Salt History Museum is a museum in the salt town of Zigong in Sichuan Province in western China. It was built in 1736 as the Xiqing Guildhall in the first year of Qianlong, funded by the Shaanxi salt tradesmen, and used a meeting place for salt merchants from Shaanxi province the main conduit for the Zigong salt. Another building nearby on the banks of the Fuxi (pronounced "fu'shee") River was the Guild Hall for the salt merchants of the Sichuan province. The guild hall took sixteen years to complete and cost a lot. It has a splendid exterior and exquisite internal structure and decoration, including many delicate stone and wooden carvings. It represents the highest level of architecture technologies of its age and is a symbol of wealth of salt merchants. The interior contains a large courtyard with a stone centerpiece of a dragon and phoenix. The guild hall once often hosted Sichuan opera for salt merchants as well as local elites in festivals.
[edit] Exterior
The building features elaborate flying eaves and a gilded wooden carved interior based around a large galleried atrium where plays were once performed. Exhibits in the museum cover the entire history of salt mining dating from the Han Dynasty.
