Page 42 - JCAU-7-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Hakka settlement in the middle ground

A B as standard and intermediate markets, respectively.
Hakka traditional periodic markets still operate on short-
term temporal cycles according to the Chinese lunar
calendar, alternating with adjacent permanent markets in
the studied Hakka villages (Figures 9 and 10). From the
author’s field notes:
In the morning, the periodic market is extremely
bustling. Stalls line both sides of the street,
mostly selling local agricultural products grown
by their owners, along with living livestock, and
C
homemade Hakka foods such as tofu and rice
wine. Some stalls also offer a variety of affordable
groceries, clothes, and farm tools. The stall owners
and customers are predominantly middle-aged
and elderly. The market is a lively symphony of
sounds: the clucking of chickens and quacking of
ducks, the hum of motorbikes, and the animated
haggling between customers and stall owners in
the Hakka dialect. Those stall owners with good
business, having sold most of their goods, are
almost ready to pack up and go home. Instead
of operating every day, these markets cycle on
different dates as the following:
Zhongxin Town in 3 - 6 - 9 (including 3 , 6 , and
rd
th
9 days of the lunar cycle)
th
nd
th
Figure 8. Housing cluster in He Xin Wu. (A) Diagram of a typical dwelling Dahu Town in 2 - 5 - 8 (including 2 , 5 , and
th
unit. (B) Interior of the dwelling unit. (C) Function distribution in He Xin 8 days of the lunar cycle)
Wu. Source: Drawings and photo by the authors (2021) Xiuduan Town in 1 - 4 - 7 (including 1 , 4 , and
th
st
7 days of the lunar cycle).
th
of private and communal spaces for individual families and These periodic markets exemplify the preservation
the whole clan reflects the intention to create a collective and continuity of local traditions, particularly through
living milieu forged in a distinctive characteristic of Hakka the sale of local agricultural products and homemade
settlements. These dwelling units were constructed using foods. They serve not only as economic hubs supporting
local materials, including rammed earth and mud brick local economies and the exchange of agricultural products
for the walls, timber for the structure, and stone and but also as social spaces where community members,
pebbles for foundations and exterior paving. However, particularly the middle-aged and elderly, interact and
these traditional materials and construction techniques are maintain social bonds. In addition, the regular schedules,
gradually being replaced by modern industrial materials, based on a set of empirical “canons,” enable villagers to
such as steel, concrete, and glass. efficiently combine sales with production and reduce
In the study area, traditional markets serve as the social the distance customers must travel to access necessary
and economic adhesive for these Hakka villages, not only products and services.
continuing their role in product exchange but also shaping 4.2. Toward an in-place urbanism with dual
the local social, spatial, and economic systems. Skinner characteristics
(2001) classified markets in China into three categories:
standard market, intermediate market, and central market, Since the 1990s, villages like He Xin Wu have
with most rural markets falling into the first two categories. experienced depopulation, as the majority of inhabitants
This hierarchical system facilitated the upward flow of have moved into newly constructed concrete housing in
rural products to higher-level markets and the downward the surrounding area. The partly abandoned Wei Long
Wu has now become the core of the village, tightly
flow of imported items destined for peasant consumption.
surrounded by scattered houses that have expanded into
According to Skinner’s classification, the periodic and the hinterland of farmland. In an interview with the head
permanent markets in the study area can be categorized of the He Xin Wu village committee, it was revealed that

Volume 7 Issue 1 (2025) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3649