The most atmospheric Peking opera house in town ( It was undergoing refurbishment at the time of research, so fingers crossed it stays that way), Beijing Huguang Guild Hall was founded in 1807 and converted to a theatre a few decades later. Operas play out on an elaborate canopied stage enclosed by balconies.

Huguang Guild Hall is one of Beijing’s few surviving huiguan (guild halls), which were ostensibly a home away from home for visiting provincial merchants and officials – in this case, from Hubei and Hunan. After 1912, the theatre featured prominently in the early days of the Kuomintang (KMT), with Sun Yatsen a regular visitor