Walled-house (weilongwu) is a unique form of traditional architecture in South China. While conventional studies on this house-form emphasize on folklore and material aspects, this work focuses on the social history of a specific walled-house, called Daraowu, in northeastern Guangdong Province. In this research, an ethnographic account of the social bodies of its residents is provided and a historiography centered on Daraowu is sketched in relation to three periods of development in China: a traditional society (1873-1949), a practical-socialist era (1950-1978), and a reform era of market economy (1980-present).

As a traditional vernacular dwelling, the walled-house Daraowu has experienced tremendous changes in the130 years since its construction, from a complex of compartments...[ Read more ]

Walled-house (weilongwu) is a unique form of traditional architecture in South China. While conventional studies on this house-form emphasize on folklore and material aspects, this work focuses on the social history of a specific walled-house, called Daraowu, in northeastern Guangdong Province. In this research, an ethnographic account of the social bodies of its residents is provided and a historiography centered on Daraowu is sketched in relation to three periods of development in China: a traditional society (1873-1949), a practical-socialist era (1950-1978), and a reform era of market economy (1980-present).

As a traditional vernacular dwelling, the walled-house Daraowu has experienced tremendous changes in the130 years since its construction, from a complex of compartments owned and dominated by a single lineage, to a shared dormitory of two surname groups under the socialist discourse of nationalism, and lastly, to an ancestral heritage which hosts all the essential life-cycle rituals for its associated members. In this work, traditional architecture is considered not only as a material remain of the past, but also as a focal point to understand the continuous relationship between the dwellers’ livelihood and the structure itself. Both the perspectives of structural functions and domestic spatial arrangement are added to testify how human relationships could be re-presented, re-interpreted, and re-read by various parties in an ever-changing political landscape in China.