1st Edition

Home Beyond the House Transformation of Life, Place, and Tradition in Rural China

By Wei Zhao Copyright 2023
350 Pages 138 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

350 Pages 138 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

350 Pages 138 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Based on extended fieldwork conducted between 2007 and 2019, this book aims to answer a simple question: What is the meaning of home for people living in vernacular settlements in rural China? This question is particularly potent since rural China has experienced rapid and fundamental changes in the twenty-first century under the influences of national policies such as "Building a New Socialist... Read more

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Glossary

Introduction

Chapter 1: Evolving Rural China

Chapter 2: The Village Underneath the Rock: The Cheng Family and the Vernacular Built Environment of Yanxia

Chapter 3: From a Local Deity to a World Heritage: Formation and Destruction of Vernacular Tradition

Chapter 4: From the Land: The Foundation of Rural China

Chapter 5: Rooted in the Past: Where Ancestors Lived

Chapter 6: Family as an Economic Entity: Divided Homes and Families

Chapter 7: Home without the House: Eternal Jiaxiang

Chapter 8: On Tradition

Chapter 9: Afterward

Epilogue

 

Index

Biography

Wei (Windy) Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the School of Design at Louisiana Tech University. Zhao received a PhD in architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Her research focuses on issues of social equity and sustainability, cultural identity and diversity, and the built environment of marginalized social groups in the context of globalization and climate change.

“The participatory and empowering method of asking residents to photograph their surroundings is exciting. This innovative method not only provides a visual and personal record of the environment and its significance to locals but also engages them actively in the process of documenting and reflecting on their own sense of place and identity. It is an approach that enriches the research with first-hand perspectives and also validates the residents’ experiences and connections to their habitat.”

Geng LiThe China Quarterly (2024), 1–2.