肇庆端州区塔脚巷1号
23.047501, 112.481093
Location: Duanzhou, Zhaoqing
Time Period: 1848 - 2006
Scale: 500 m2
Guanyin Hall in Zhaoqing is regarded as the oldest Gupouks in the entire Canton Delta. Its age is confirmed by a plaque once mounted on its facade, inscribed with “Guanyin Tang (Hall)” and the year 1848[1]by a former mayor of the city. According to local lore, the origin of the hall can be traced back to an affluent lady in the Qing Dynasty, Madam He Miaoye, who sympathized with the “hostless” state of the Comb Sisters. Moved by compassion, she donated her temple of Guanyin to accommodate them.[2] Her act has not been forgotten by the collective, and her spirit tablet is still honoured in the ancestral hall of the Gupouk to this day.
The Plaque of Guanyin Hall, 2006 [Deng Jie]
Distribution of sericultural places and Gupouks in Zhaoqing
data based on Howard and Buswell, A Survey of the Silk Industry of South China, 27- 29 and field research conducted from December 2023 to February 2024, © Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Including Guanyin Hall, the city Zhaoqing had once a total of 12 collective spaces for Comb Sisters, housing around 500 individuals.[3] Today, three remain: Eternal Hall, Yang Shan Hall in the old town, and Guanyin Hall by the West River.
This number is particularly notable, considering that Zhaoqing, situated at the delta’s western end and surrounded by mountains, was not a major silk-producing area. Even during the peak of the industry, mulberry plantations in Zhaoqing were only limited to narrow strips along the West River.[4] Though Zhaoqing did not produce silk, due to its position by the river, it was vital in the silk economy. The city featured numerous ports and farmers from the upstream would come to here to sell their cocoons. These were bought by silk industry managers and then sold to mechanized silk reeling factories downstream.[5] These trade network, potentially facilitated the spread of the Comb Sister movement during the industrialization period.
Madam Wu Amei, 90-year-old Comb Sister of Guanyin Hall, 2023
The geography of the city also influenced the labour patterns of the local Comb Sisters. Unlike the predominant silk reeling activities in other regions, these women were primarily involved in weaving straw mats. They utilized tu,“芏,” a type of bulrush found in the shallow waters of local lakes and rivers, which was plentiful in the area. This complex craft involved several steps: drying the grass, sorting it by size, flattening it, dyeing in colours, and weaving into mats. It was a typical domestic labour undertaken by women in this region and became a source of the Comb Sisters’ economic independence.
Wu Amei, 吴亚妹, a 90-year-old Comb Sister, was the last member of Guanyin Hall. She proudly showed her intricately woven mats, crafted about a decade ago. These mats, traditionally used as bedding, provided a cool surface to sleep on during hot summers. It took her about three days to weave a mat of bed size. However, due to modernization of this region, this old craftwork is fading.
She lamented. “Nowadays, where can you find 'tu' grass! Before, it grew everywhere along the riverbanks here, but now it’s hard to find. And even if you buy some, you need a place to dry it. There used to be many spaces near Guanyin Hall for processing mats, but they are all gone now.”[6]
Madam Wu Amei and Sisters at Guanyin Hall, straw mats woven by Comb Sisters on the left, 2006 [Deng Jie]
Exterior of Guanyin Hall, with the plaque removed, 2023
Exterior of Guanyin Hall, 2006 [Deng Jie]
Ground Floor Plan
Guanyin Hall's layout consists of three parallel parts within an enclosure: a front yard, the main building, and a backyard. The front yard also serves as a corridor, providing access to various rooms in the main building. Though these rooms have different functions, public or private, they are arranged sequentially without significant spatial variation. This may support the lore of its origin - it was initially a temple, not a residence. Later, the Comb Sisters might have adapted this place and expanded its structure. The main interior complex, about 200 square meters in size, accommodated over 40 Comb Sisters at its peak.
Frontyard, 2023
The front yard is a flexible area adaptable to various needs, such as hosting vegetarian banquets. My local informant recalls attending these gatherings in her childhood, “There were probably 6 or 7 large round tables, and the yard was full of people. I distinctly remember the vegetarian sweet and sour pork made from winter melon—it was incredibly delicious. The Comb Sisters were truly ingenious cooks, often using unexpected ingredients.” [7]
Frontyard, 2006 [Deng Jie]
Kitchen [Source]
Kitchen, 2023
Kitchen of Guanyin Hall, 2023, [Yue Li and Meng Fan]
Guanyin statue at Guanyin Hall, 2023
The public heart of the gupouk was the Main Hall, where the Buddhist goddess Guanyin was worshiped. Widely revered in the Canton Delta, Guanyin is known as the Goddess of Mercy. She represents wisdom and compassion, though her significance to the Comb Sisters is due to her backstory. According to regional interpretations, Guanyin refused to marry, angering her father to the point that he killed her. Later, she returned to the world having achieved enlightenment, despite her unmarried status, such that her refusal of marriage is revealed to be a spiritual decision of the highest order. A scholar tells Guanyin’s story:
When Miao-shan [Guanyin] reached the marriageable age, however, she refused to get married. …The king was greatly angered by her refusal and punished her harshly … with the aid of gods, she completed [her punishment], she was allowed to go to the White Sparrow Nunnery to undergo further trials in the hope of discouraging her from pursuing the religious path. She persevered, and the king burned down the nunnery, killed the five hundred nuns, and had Miao-shan executed for her unfilial behaviour. While her body was safeguarded by a mountain spirit, Miao-shan’s soul toured hell and saved beings there by preaching to them. She returned to the world … and achieved enlightenment. [8]
This narritive legitimized a woman’s right to be single, portrayed the father’s judgement as cruel and barbaric, and linked the decision to not marry as stemming from integrity and religiosity. The Comb Sisters believed themselves like the goddess Guanyin, in that they took pride in their unmarried identities. Most gupouks housed their statue of Guanyin at the center of the main hall, offering incense and prayers daily. The oaths of the Combing Up ceremony — to commit to a life of celibacy, and to actively participate in the Comb sisterhood — were usually taken in front of the statue.
[8] Chün-fang Yü, Kuan-Yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara (Columbia University Press, 2001), 293–294.
Madam Wu Amei in the Buddha Hall of Guanyin Hall, ca. 2005 [Lin Zhiwen]
Ancestral Hall of Guanyin Hall, 2006 [Deng Jie]
Comb Sisters cared for the dying in the Ancestral Hall, which was also where foremothers were worshiped. The rear wall featured a three-tiered altar, and displayed the spirit tablets. In the final moments of a resident’s life, her fellow Sisters would gather in the Ancestral Hall, along with the souls of Comb Sisters departed, who would accompany the dying woman on her last journey.
Comb Sisters at Ancestral Hall of Guanyin Hall, with Madam Wu Amei on the second left, 2006 [Deng Jie]
Backyard, 2023
The Backyard offered the Comb Sisters a vast open area for leisure as well as for their labour activities of weaving straw mats. It allowed for various stages of mat production, including dyeing and air drying. It was also a space of natural resources, which housed various practical fruit trees and diverse herbs.
Backyard, 2006 [Deng Jie]
The Comb Sisters at Guanyin Hall organized themselves into a series of subgroups or fongs "房". Each fong included several junior members guided by one senior mentor. Securing a senior “sister” as sponsor was a prerequisite of the Combing Up ceremony. The younger sister would pledge respect to her mentor, who in turn promised to impart essential skills via an apprenticeship, thereby ensuring the younger sister’s livelihood and independence.
These mentorships could be very familial — more mother-daughter than teacher-student. Guanyin Hall Comb Sister Madam Hu Ernü, for instance, learned her livelihood from her mentor Si Jie 四姐, whom she called both her “godmother” and her “master.” Another Comb Sister of Guanyin Hall, Madam Wu Amei, was mentored by her paternal aunt, whose decision to become a Comb Sister influenced her own. Sometimes sleeping arrangements followed the fong organization, as did primary responsibility for care of elders. Creating smaller subgroups within the gupouk collective ensured that each Comb Sister enjoyed both the pleasure of a broad community, and the intimate ties of chosen kin.
In 2005, real estate developers proposed transforming the riverfront on which Guanyin Hall sits into a series of modern residential houses. The project involved demolishing many old homes and alleys, including Guanyin Hall, which the developers specifically wanted gone. They believed that its presence would affect the marketability of their new development, even suggesting that the gupouk might exude an aura that would dampen the matrimonial prospects of young women who lived in the neighbourhood. [9] At the time, there were about ten Comb Sisters still living at Guanyin Hall. Fearful that the developer’s plans would be approved, they considered relocating the structure, and even moved some bricks to a new site.
In the end, Guanyin Hall was not demolished, but abandoned. All of the surrounding buildings were razed, making the landscape desolate. The ten Sisters aged, and lacking security in their home and unsure of what would happen, they moved away. The number of Comb Sisters in the community dwindled until there was no group to gather. One Comb Sister who had lived near Guanyin but not inside remained as a caretaker, but then she was relocated to a resettlement housing complex when her house was demolished. Today, Guanyin Hall is home to eight vagrants. The iconic marble plaque, “Guanyin Hall, 1884,” gifted by a former mayor, was stolen, and the courtyard is filled with trash. The statue of Guanyin is still in its place, though someone now sleeps at the statue’s base.
[9] Deng Jie, interview with the author, December 26, 2023. Deng is a cultural preservationist and director of the Zhaoqing Museum.
The Surroundings of Guanyin Hall, 2023