# Yu Renyuan's Guotanghang

> Yu Renyuan's Guotanghang (LSJZ4-35) is a declared historic building of Hangzhou, listed in 2008. Built in the late Qing dynasty.

Canonical: https://hangzhoumemory.org/web/guest/lsjz-content_display/-/asset_publisher/0qkI/content/%E5%8F%A4%E5%9F%8E%E4%BD%B3%E8%AF%9D-%E5%8E%86%E5%8F%B2%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91-%E4%BF%9E%E4%BB%BB%E5%85%83%E8%BF%87%E5%A1%98%E8%A1%8C
Updated: 2026-10-30

**Yu Renyuan's Guotanghang** (俞任元过塘行) is a former shop or works building in Hangzhou, China, built in the late Qing dynasty. The city declared it a protected historic building on 14 August 2008, as number LSJZ4-35 in the fourth batch of 49.

## What the listing says

![Yu Renyuan's Guotanghang](https://hangzhoumemory.org/photos/lsjz4-35.webp)

*Yu Renyuan's Guotanghang (俞任元过塘行). Photo: 猫猫的日记本, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yu_Renyuan%27s_Guotanghang_04_2014-12.JPG).*

The city's description, as summarised on English Wikipedia: Constructed in the late Qing Dynasty, this traditional courtyard-style wooden building reflects the unique history of commercial transfer stations in Xixing area.

Since 2013 part of a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (the Grand Canal).

Xixing, in today's Binjiang District, sits at the western end of the East Zhejiang Canal, where goods and travellers crossed between the Qiantang River and the canal. From the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty, transfer firms called *guotanghang* grew up here to handle that crossing; at their height people spoke of "seventy-two and a half" of them. When the Qiantang's channel moved north and the canal fell out of use, the firms closed. The canal head became a Hangzhou protected site in 2002, part of the Grand Canal national protected site in 2013 and part of the Grand Canal World Heritage property in 2014.

## Key facts

**Yu Renyuan's Guotanghang at a glance**

| Fact | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| List number | LSJZ4-35 |
| Chinese name | 俞任元过塘行 |
| Batch | [Fourth batch](/fourth-batch), announced 14 August 2008 |
| Built | Late Qing dynasty |
| Listed address | 官河路96、97号 |
| Type | [Shops and factories](/shops-and-factories) |

## Where it fits

Hangzhou's 2013 regulations name workshops, shops, factories and warehouses that represent the history of industry as one of the grounds for listing a building. The list includes old-established shops of the Qing and Republican eras around Zhongshan Road and Hefang Street, the transfer firms of Xixing on the canal, and factories and warehouses built between the 1950s and the 1980s. [All the shops and factories on the list](/shops-and-factories).

It belongs to the [fourth batch](/fourth-batch), announced on 14 August 2008: 49 buildings, including lane houses, the shops of Zhongshan Road, the former Boji Hospital and Qing houses at Xixing and Changhe.

## What the listing protects

A listed building may not be altered, moved or demolished without approval. Under the [regulations in force since 1 October 2013](/protection-regulations), each listed building has a protection plan and a sign put up by the city, and falls into one of three protection categories, from keeping its main exterior features to keeping its exterior, plan, structure and details.

Its owner, or for a state-owned building its user, is responsible for upkeep and repairs, and a repair plan must be approved first. The listing does not open a building to the public: most listed buildings are still homes, offices, schools or shops.

## On the same street

- [Building at 112, Guanhe Road](/web/guest/lsjz-content_display/-/asset_publisher/0qkI/content/官河路112号建筑): LSJZ3-61, late qing dynasty
- [Buildings at 102,103, and 104, Guanhe Road](/web/guest/lsjz-content_display/-/asset_publisher/0qkI/content/官河路102、103、104号建筑): LSJZ3-62, late qing dynasty
- [Buildings at 105, 106 and 107, Guanhe Road](/web/guest/lsjz-content_display/-/asset_publisher/0qkI/content/古城佳话-历史建筑-官河路105、106、107号建筑): LSJZ4-34, late qing dynasty
- [Ye Hanxiang's Commercial Transfer Station](/web/guest/lsjz-content_display/-/asset_publisher/0qkI/content/古城佳话-历史建筑-叶汉祥过塘行): LSJZ4-37, late qing dynasty

## Sources and licence

- Description: adapted from the English Wikipedia article [List of fourth batch of declared historic buildings in Hangzhou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fourth_batch_of_declared_historic_buildings_in_Hangzhou), [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- Chinese name, period, address and remarks: Chinese Wikipedia, [杭州市历史建筑](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/杭州市历史建筑) and the building's own article, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Listing: Hangzhou municipal government notice 杭政函〔2008〕179号 of 14 August 2008.
- Photo: 猫猫的日记本, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), from [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yu_Renyuan%27s_Guotanghang_04_2014-12.JPG). Photos credited to "hangzhoumemory" or "Laohangzhou" were uploaded by the former heritage portal; Hangzhou Memory is not connected with it.
- The text of this page is available under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

## Frequently asked questions

### Where is Yu Renyuan's Guotanghang?

The city's list gives its address as 官河路96、97号, Hangzhou. Chinese map apps and taxi drivers will recognise the address in Chinese.

### When was Yu Renyuan's Guotanghang declared a historic building?

On 14 August 2008, as number LSJZ4-35 in the fourth batch of 49 historic buildings announced by the Hangzhou municipal government (杭政函〔2008〕179号).

### What does LSJZ4-35 mean?

It is the building's number on the city's list. LSJZ abbreviates *lishi jianzhu*, "historic building"; 4 is the batch and 35 its place in that batch.