China's climate is diverse and its terrain complex. Vernacular architecture, along with the languages and foods that depend on it, has become the most regional identifier. How much of the beauty of the countryside have you experienced? Do you have enough imagination for the richness and diversity of China's rural heritage? Not long ago, Chen Zhihua, a disciple of Liang Sicheng and professor at Tsinghua University's School of Architecture, and Li Qiuxiang, another professor at Tsinghua, jointly published A Preliminary Study of Chinese Vernacular Architecture. This is a summary of their nearly 30 years of investigation and research on vernacular architecture, showcasing the diverse forms of Chinese villages.

Recently, the 84-year-old Chen Zhihua gave an exclusive interview to the author, sharing the charm and beauty of the vernacular architecture he has seen, as well as his deepest concerns.

The Artistic Beauty of Vernacular Architecture

Chen Zhihua has visited stilted houses, cave dwellings, and Hakka enclosed houses. There are villages on hilltops, villages by rivers, villages with uneven horse-head walls, and villages with exquisitely carved beams and painted rafters. Many villages have left a deep impression on him. In his eyes, two ancient villages have the strongest cultural significance: one is Zhuge Village in Zhuge Town, Lanxi City, Zhejiang Province, adjacent to Jiande City and Longyou County, about 2 kilometers from Changle Village. The village was founded in the Yuan Dynasty, and residents claim to be descendants of Zhuge Liang. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, many exquisite ancestral halls and residences were built.

The other is Xinye Village in Daciyan Town, Jiande City, Hangzhou, adjacent to Lanxi. The village has preserved 16 ancient ancestral halls, ancient halls, ancient pagodas, and ancient temples, as well as 200 ancient residential buildings.

The architecture and structures of these two villages are complex, the residences exquisite, and the educational buildings, temples, and other facilities complete, collectively embodying the artistic beauty of Chinese vernacular architecture. These villages encompass all aspects of traditional Chinese culture. For example, their ancestral halls highly reflect the Chinese people's clan consciousness, while structures like the Tuanyun Pagoda and Wenchang Pavilion embody their preservation of and pursuit of culture. Taking a stroll through those villages, you will sigh with emotion: This is China, this is truly China! Very condensed, very concrete, harmony between man and nature, deeply influenced by Confucian culture.

Over the past 20 years, Chen Zhihua has reaped many surprises. Gaoyi Village in Huitong, Hunan; Longji Village in Longsheng, Guangdong; and the stilted houses of Fobao Field in Hejiang, Sichuan, are like fairylands. In Kaili, Guizhou, there is a village with many granaries scattered among the green mountains and waters, their dark bamboo and wood structures creating a breathtaking sight.

Chinese People Build Houses in an Environmentally Friendly Way

Re-examining these high-quality vernacular villages today, Chen Zhihua believes they bear witness to the Chinese people's conscious or unconscious practice of environmentalism for thousands of years.

He said that by visiting well-preserved villages around the country, one will find that most are nestled against mountains and beside water, and their application of geography, feng shui, and other knowledge is astounding. Take feng shui, which everyone criticizes—judging from its ultimate manifestation (vernacular architecture), it invariably aligns with environmental concepts and is very beneficial for people's physical and mental relaxation and adjustment. Chinese culture has a tradition of loving nature, and the landscape sentiment has strongly influenced intellectuals and gentry in the agrarian era. The cultural luminary Wen Zhenheng once pointed out that buildings should "preferably be situated among mountains and waters."

There is also the sense of security, psychological security. Chen Zhihua said that in the typical villages he visited, their ancestors often fully considered "security" when choosing sites. They always hoped to create a clear sense of territory obtainable through visual intuition alone, with mountains at the back for support and water surrounding the front, with everything within sight and no unfathomable mystery. Surrounded by mountains and water on all sides, with barriers rather than openness in all directions, people feel at ease.

Save One Is One

Chen Zhihua introduced that in recent years, whenever he takes on a village research project, he dares not stay too long, because there are too many villages in China that need protection and research, and the speed of demolition is too fast. He always worries that if he stays too long in one village, many precious villages will quickly disappear. "We have to be greedy for speed and quantity, saving one is one."

In the first decade or so of research, they had no fixed funding and could only rely on advance royalties from publishers. The contract with the publisher was to submit one manuscript per year to receive funding for the next year. They gritted their teeth, "greedy for more and faster," but of course never acted rashly, striving to thoroughly study valuable villages as much as possible.

Chen Zhihua is very worried about the current state of vernacular architecture protection. He gave an example that happened not long ago: there are currently 267 villages in Nanxi River, Zhejiang. The local leaders told him at the dinner table that they planned to keep only 2; some counties might not keep any.

"If a nation loses respect and gratitude for the labor and creation of its ancestors, has no interest in their lives, and disdains to appreciate and learn from their achievements, can this nation be healthy?" Chen Zhihua asks himself and his readers in A Preliminary Study of Chinese Vernacular Architecture.

A Preliminary Study of Chinese Vernacular Architecture is nearly 700,000 words and interspersed with many pictures. Why are Zhouzhuang, the Qiao Family Compound, and Huizhou-style architecture rarely mentioned?

Chen Zhihua: Our research is rescue-oriented. The intention behind writing this book was from the start to visit more villages that are unknown, less noticed, and less protected. The places you mentioned are already famous nationwide and even worldwide, and were developed early, so they don't need much attention from scholars. In addition, the book does not cover villages inhabited by ethnic minorities in Tibet, Xinjiang, etc., mainly because our individual efforts are too small and time is pressing, making it difficult to attend to them for now.

What are the usual essential elements of a standard traditional village?

Chen Zhihua: Chinese villages of significance are diverse and different; it's hard to say there is a unified standard or unified components. This may be exactly the charm of Chinese villages.

The "standard village" I am fond of is probably Xinye Village in Zhejiang. From feng shui site selection, historical origins, to local notables, this village exhibits rich connotations and profound meaning. Residences are scattered at random, appropriately dynamic and static, and the lanes are mysterious and winding. There are many ancestral halls, and even a general ancestral hall with a plaque of "Jinshi" bestowed by the emperor hanging high. There are private schools, ancestral graves, and a clear and well-preserved genealogy. At the village entrance, there is the Tuanyun Pagoda, which highlights literary style and promotes literary fortune, and the Wenchang Pavilion, a family school with exquisite and complex structures.

Such a village, seemingly ordinary, is a living footnote to China's rural clan system and folk culture, a living museum.

What historical factors lie behind the formation of a village rich in "artistic charm" and research value?

Chen Zhihua: Buildings require money; this is a simple truth. Examining those relatively famous villages, we can easily conclude: either the village had a good culture of learning, the spirit of "farming and reading" was thoroughly implemented, and seeds of success in education and officialdom emerged, who understood aesthetics and painstakingly managed the village over generations; or the villagers had high "financial acumen" and produced skilled businessmen.

If we travel to the south, we will know that behind those scattered "small Western-style buildings" may lie broken walls and ruins. Many obscure villages once had ancestral halls, family schools, and memorial archways, nestled against mountains and beside water, with small bridges and dusk crows, all very pleasant. The formation of these unknown villages, just like their disappearance, is hard to explain. To study them thoroughly, a few people are not enough.

How did vernacular culture form?

Chen Zhihua: In the vast and long-standing rural society, farmers, along with small handicraftsmen, peddlers, rural intellectuals, and a few retired officials returning to their hometowns, created a rich and colorful vernacular culture. The variety of buildings in rural areas surpasses that of ordinary cities. Historically, academies, library buildings, and temples were mostly in rural areas, and roadside pavilions, mills, water-powered trip hammers, and livestock sheds were mostly absent in cities. Some vernacular buildings' carved beams and painted rafters and ornate windows are not inferior to urban buildings. Generally speaking, vernacular buildings are low, refined, and not as grand and magnificent as imperial palaces, but their winding paths leading to secluded spots have been enamored by literati and officials of past dynasties.

What problems exist in the protection and development of Chinese vernacular architecture?

Chen Zhihua: Some people, in order to restore antiquity or imitate antiquity, instead tear down the oldest parts and build entirely new or entirely fake buildings. I have told some reporters that now some villages spend money to repair, but end up ruining it because they always want to "elevate." The countryside is the countryside; it should retain the flavor of the countryside, but they create many fake things. In the past, when crossing a river on stepping stones, the stones were laid in a straight line; now they make the stones winding. There are also fake windmills and bridges. I don't oppose making money, but not by deceptive means.

Now, the focus is always on building cities, and vernacular protection is seriously inadequate. A large number of wood carvings and dwellings from Jiangxi, Anhui, and Shanxi are disappearing. Many things in the photos we took were demolished the day after they were taken, which is heartbreaking. In some places, attention was paid initially, experts and scholars were invited, surveys and planning were done, and publicity was carried out. But later, it turned out that what was built was not that at all, different from our drawings, a mess. They simply don't follow the plan.

How do you think villages should be rescued and protected?

Chen Zhihua: First, China is too big, there are too many villages, and they have been forgotten for too long. Just the Nanxi River has hundreds of interesting villages on both banks. Mr. Huang Renyu said that China lacks numerical management; in terms of statistics on vernacular architecture and classical villages, there is even more lack of statistics and research, and too many are left to fend for themselves. Second, some places now pay attention, but they rush for money, afraid that the outside world won't know, and rush to develop, which in the name of development and protection actually accelerates destruction.

My idea is that the state should establish relevant institutions to unify research, protection, and management. What I value more, or rather my idealistic hope, is that capable people in each village spontaneously repair old villages, making incremental improvements. I believe in the spontaneous power of the people. When that power gathers, it may be enough to restore part of the face of rural China. Some villages really cannot be preserved, and we can only let them be.