Situated at 108 North Jiefang Road, Heping District, the former Kinchen Bank is now the heritage site under city protection and the important protection historic architecture and is currently used as an office building. Kinchen Bank was established in Tianjin in 1917 by Zhou Zuomin, Ni Sichong, Ren Fengbao and Hu Bijiang. In 1936, the bank was relocated to Shanghai.
Kinchen Bank was the core of the "four northern banks" in China (the other three were Salt Industry Bank, Continuental Bank and China & South Sea Bank) in the 1920s. The major services of Kinchen Bank were deposit, loan and investment and it also ran several companies including Tongcheng Company, Fengdahao and the Pacific Insurance Agency which became the leading figure in China's insurance industry. In 1952, it was grouped into the "Joint Office of Joint Public-Private Banks" with other eight Chinese banks.
The Kinchen Bank building was built by Huaxin Engineering Company in 1937 following the design of Shen Liyuan, China's first generation designer and it covers an area of 4500 square meters and its floor area was 3200 square meters. This two-storied brick-wood building with a basement was laid out in perfect symmetry and its exterior walls were covers with decorative tiles.
As it combined the classical revival style and vernacular dwelling, its facade is beautifully decorated and it has towering roofs. In the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake, the roofs were damaged and later the building was restored before the advent of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
