Chinese Assembly Hall of Hoi An

This guide to the Chinese Assembly Hall of Hoi An introduces the sea goddess Mazu's painted guardians watching the entrance, and the unusual hall built jointly around 1741 by five rival Chinese merchant communities who normally kept to their own guildhalls. It follows how Fujian, Chaozhou, Guangdong, Hainan, and Hakka traders pooled their resources for one shared house, painted blue instead of the customary red. You'll hear about the change the hall underwent in 1928, decades after China's last emperor had fallen. Stand where the goddess's watchful bodyguards still keep their eyes on the horizon.