Page 110 - JCAU-5-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Studying home: A book review

The introduction indicates that existing theories and private plots, agricultural land, and collective property,
studies about the home are primarily based on European that provide the primary resources for survival, support
and North American cultures, while different cultural daily activities, social relations, cultural performances,
backgrounds have different definitions, perceptions, and land ownership, that provide people with a sense of
and feelings of “home,” so it is not fully applicable to the belonging and identity to the local community, giving
Chinese countryside. Moreover, the current research is residents a sense of ownership and establishing individual
mainly focused on physical space. The relationship between and collective identities. (ii) “Home” depends on blood,
social culture and the built environment is not explored family history, lineage structure, and kinship affairs such as
deeply enough. Therefore, examining and investigating the Hugong temple fair, ancestor worship activities, weddings,
“home” in rural China is necessary. and funerals. The locals are tightly united by their lineage,
making the ancestor-worshipping place and personal
Then, take the example of Yanxia, a village of the
Han nationality in southern China as a representative belongings part of the home. (iii) Owing to the economy’s
influence, residents from the same “home” need to earn
case, because the roots of everything from the soil and enough money in a limited period each year, so they have less
lineage-based settlements are of typical rural Chinese and less time to participate in family activities. Moreover,
characteristics, and the profound socio-cultural changes they were not friendly with their neighbors because of
caused by the modernization transition can be found in competition. The home (inn) is isolated and separated from
other rural settlements. In addition, Yanxia is unique in the social environment in which it was located, becoming a
that its religious activities have led to the development space reserved for strangers and losing its private meaning.
of a home-based hospitality industry, which is also a (iv) The new national policy has gradually erased the
typical sample of rural economic practices. In this way, “home” concept in the new countryside construction. Its
the meaning of “home” has expanded and modified in connotation is being reconstructed with the rebuilding of
response to social activities. houses and communities, in which home has become an
The book also investigates the relationship between abstracted and romanticized “jiaxiang,” which is close to
the sociocultural influences and the built environment of the idea of home as roots and only an ideology form. To
Yanxia in two periods, with three stages before and after summarize, the meaning of home depends on traditional
1850. The first stage is the maturity of the relationship, a ideas of identity, lineage, collectivity, social relations,
phase of sociocultural development based on land bondage, land ownership, and rural life. Home, for them, can be
as with the blood ties of the Cheng family before the 1850s, independent of the physical house in which they live.
which influenced the early development and construction Therefore, a house can be demolished and rebuilt while the
of vernacular settlements, housing, and ancestral halls. The idea of the home continues (p. 296).
second stage, which is a turning point in the development of
relationships after 1850, is characterized by the continuous 4. Tradition of rural China
growth of religious activities; local areas started providing Focusing on rural China, a social group the authors believe
services to pilgrims, thereby promoting the development of is underrepresented in scholarship and underserved in
the service industry. Economic factors had a huge influence modern China (p. 289). The research object has a more
on the local social and cultural aspects, which led to changes realistic value in the promotion of rural revitalization.
in the corresponding architectural environment. The first When numerous suggestions for rural governance are
deconstruction of the relationship between social culture being made, this book intends to address the following
and the built environment occurred. The third stage of questions: Is building modern houses for farmers
the relationship transformation was the local government equivalent to building home for them? What kind of
intervention in the heritage management of Yanxia in 2006. buildings and environment can become home, and what
Subsequently, under the national policy of Building a New is the relationship between tradition and home in the
Socialist Countryside in 2014, further relationships were Chinese countryside? How should traditions be inherited
restructured. However, this restructuring is still ongoing and continued? In this regard, the author provides a
and has not yet been completed. comprehensive analysis and clear exposition to explain

Furthermore, the residents’ understanding of home the significance of studying “home,” emphasizing the
was analyzed in four aspects: place-bound relationships, sociological implications of “house,” which is of great
family tradition, family-based economic practices, and significance for understanding and gaining knowledge of
the younger generation. Ultimately, the meaning of home Chinese rural traditions.
in Yanxia was expanded and summarized as follows: (i) First, an interdisciplinary approach, combining
“Home” on (or above) the land, including homesteads, various theories and methods, including architecture,

Volume 5 Issue 4 (2023) 3 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0925