Knapp Ronald G. - Chinese Houses: the Architectural Heritage of a Nation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the course of nearly forty years researching Chinas rural material culture, I have accumulated enormous debts to scholars, generalists, administrators, and ordinary villagers who have helped me understand and write about what is clearly one of the worlds outstanding architectural traditions. In spite of increasing amounts of written material and after increasing visitation to China by foreigners, Chinas extraordinary architectural heritage is still not as well known as it should be.

Eric Oeys invitation to bring Chinese houses into focus in a lavishly illustrated large-format book written for a general audience has provided both an opportunity and a challenge. While selecting a representative sample of some twenty houses across a country as large as the United States has been daunting, this book has provided an occasion to discuss individual houses within the broader context of Chinese life and history in a way never attempted before.

After coming up with a shortlist of possible houses, I sought out additional recommendations from friends and acquaintances all over the world to insure that I had not overlooked any house that best epitomizes China. Among those who quickly offered opinions and guidance were Daniel B. Abramson, Nancy Berliner, Pai Ling Chen, Jeff Cody, Christopher Cooke, Lynne Di-Stefano, Fu Chao-ching, Guo Qinghua, Feng Jin, Gong Kai, Sarah Handler, Patrick Hase, Puay-peng Ho, Hsia Chu-joe, Hsu Min-fu, Huang Juzheng, Tess Johnston, Elizabeth Knight, Richard Latham, Hoyin Lee, Elizabeth Leppman, Andrew I-kang Li, Kai-Yin Lo, David Lung, F. Nuttaphol Ma, Meg Maggio, Nancy Steinhardt, Ruan Xing, Hsing-yuan Tsao, Joseph C. Wang, Wang Qijun, James L. Watson, Bill Wu, Alex Yaning Yen, Zhou Bihua, and Zhu Chengliang. All of their leads and suggestions were followed up, but in the end many variables contributed to my selection of houses to be featured. Some of those who offered advice may be surprised about some of the houses chosen, yet I hope that they too will encounter here houses that are new to them. The final decisions were mine alone.

It was my good fortune that Periplus/Tuttle selected A. Chester Ong to do the photography for this book. We worked well as a team, traveling twice together to China. My sense of how each house was to be presented aligned well with his ability to capture light even when there was darkness and to compose what appeared ordinary in order to bring out its beauty. It was always my task to negotiate permission to photograph when householders, administrators, and security personnel would rather that we not shoot. Thus, special appreciation is owed those families who opened their homes and permitted us to intrude on their daily life as well as administrators of several historic sites who gave us unprecedented permission to photograph whatever we thought necessary.

Special thanks are due two individuals who generously allowed us to use original artwork: Robert Powell, architect-writer-artist permitted the use of two of his remarkable watercolors of buildings in Chengkan village, Anhui. These had been painted for the China Heritage Arts Foundation (CHAF), set up by Robert Ellsworth, the New York Asian art dealer and collector, to promote architectural conservation in China. The assistance of Elizabeth Knight, editor of Orientations Magazine , in making these arrangements is much appreciated. Wang Qijun, prolific author of books on Chinese vernacular architecture in Chinese, took time out of a very busy schedule to draw the plan and perspective view of the Mei Lanfang residence.

Several institutions generously provided valuable art images from their collections: the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; the Smithsonian, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery; and the British Museum. Kathleen Ryors original translation of Xu Weis poetry adds a valuable touch to that section. Craig Dietrichs advice on many of the essays was invaluable.

Jonathan Spences willingness to write a Foreword for Chinese Houses is deeply appreciated. His generous words will help bring greater attention to the rich and fascinating subject of Chinas domestic architectural heritage, which has been sadly understudied by historians and others as a vector for understanding broader issues of Chinese culture and history.

Since its conception, this book has undergone a number of significant conceptual changes and has taken shape via the efforts of individuals on three continents. No one has played a greater role in shaping the book than Noor Azlina Yunus, Senior Editor at Tuttle/Periplus in Malaysia. With no other editor I have worked has it been possible in real-time via email to make decisions page by page in terms of content and design. Azlinas sense of style, wit, and guidance have been significant factors in giving shape to Chinese Houses in a time frame that often was 24/7. I owe her a great debt. Her assistant Yong Yoke Lian has ably met every electronic and design challenge we have encountered. Tan Hong Yews ability to turn rough sketches into fine drawings adds an important dimension to the book. Much appreciation is owed Holger Jacobs, working in London, for creating a design that weaves words, photographs, drawings, and artwork into an effective narrative.

The list below acknowledges the sources of all illustrations not taken by Chester Ong.

a=above; b=below; c=center; l=left; r=right

Robert Powell, Interior Perspective of Lao Wu Ge in Spring , Xixinan Village, watercolor on paper, height 74 cm, width 92 cm, 2003. Collection of the artist.

Daoji (1641c. 1717), The Peach Blossom Spring, section of a handscroll, ink and colors on paper, height 9 7/8 in. Used with the permission of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Purchase, F1957.4.

1617 Qiao Zhongchang, Su Shis Second Poem on the Red Cliff, handscroll, ink on paper, 11.6 in. x 18 ft. 8. in. Northern Song dynasty, 1123. Used with the permission of Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri (accession number F80-5).

Circular House, Inhabited by the Members of One Clan, William Elliot Griffis, Chinas Story in Myth, Legend, Art, and Animals , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911.

Yongding tulou (Yongding Earth Buildings), Fuzhou: Fujian renmin chubanshe, 1990.

Zhongguo kexueyuan tumu jianzhu yanjiusuo and Qinghua daxue jianzhuxi (joint eds.), Zhongguo jianzhu (Chinese Architecture), Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1957.

23b Adapted from Huang Weijuan et al., Min Yue Minzhai (China Vernacular Dwelling [sic]: Fujian and Guangdong Provinces), Tianjin: Tianjin kexue jishu chubanshe, 1992.

25a Zhang Bitian and Liu Zhenya, Shaanxi minju (Vernacular Dwellings of Shaanxi), Beijing: Zhongguo jianzhu gongye chubanshe, 1993.

31a Ernest F. Borst-Smith, Mandarin & Missionary in Cathay , London: Seeley, 1917. 31c John Thomson, Through China with a Camera , Westminster: Constable, 1898.

35a , 1984; 39b , 1984; 41a , 1984; 41b , 1994; 43a , 1986; 43c , 1994; 47c , 2000; 49al , 1987; 49ar , 1988; 59a , 1988; 61b , 1990; 64al , 1990; 65al , 1987; 65br , 1987; 84b , 2001; 87c , 1987; , 2003 Photographs by Ronald G. Knapp.

36b Yang Hongxun, Hemudu yizhi mugou shuijing jianding ji caoqi mugou gongyi kaocha (Identification of the Timber Structure Well at the Hemudu Site and Inspection of the Technology of Early Timber Structure), Keji wenji (Collection on the History of Science and Technology), vol. 5, 1980.

; 58a Er ya (Examples of Refined Usage), juan 2, 6b.

39a Building a Wall of Pis de terre at Kuling, Rudolf Hommel, China at Work , New York: John Day, 1937.

40al ; 40ar ; Song Yingxing, Tiangong kaiwu (The Creations of Nature and Man), Shanghai: Huatong shuju, 1930.

; 71a Mrs Archibald Little, Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen Them , London: Hutchinson, 1899.

Gengzhi Tu . Image 35866. Copyright The Trustees of The British Museum.