Changing Living In A Changing Rural Society

China is an agricultural country with rural population of 800 million. "To have a decent shelter" is always the dream for a peasant in China. Ever since the economic reform, there has been a great upsurge of "building houses hot" in rural area. A statistics shows that the volume of Farmer House construction in China is much big than that in cities during 1979-1999. Unfortunately, Chinese architectural research institutes, as well as architects and planners, did not pay much attention to the design, planning and construction for Fanner House. Even though many competitions have been conducted and a lot of great works have been done by Design Masters, we hardly experience any successful rural houses.Mao Zedong says:" No investigations, no right to speak ". I started my research from my field study in the area of Dong Ting Lake, the northern part of Hunan. By combining architectural theory with sociology, economy, ecology and psychology, aesthetics, I explore the developmental process of Farmer House, and make a series of analyses and comparison on research questions raised. I give out Thirty Rules of rural pattern language for Fanner House.The Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 explore the types, modes and features of Rural House from the social, economy, history, and cultural points of views.The Chapter 3 analyzes the composition of some important space in Farmer House which include Central Hall, Kitchen, Bedroom, Staircase, and Bars, etc. I inquire into the subtle relationship between life style and the form of space, clarify the peculiar meaning of those functional spaces. Three distinguishing feature of Farmer House are referred: 0 Multiplex in function; (2) regionalism in construction;diversity in form.The Chapter 4 focuses on the investigation of the process of changing rural living and changing Farmer House construction. I clarify the process into three periods: rural house of existence; rural house of living; rural house of ecology. In short, Farmer House should be built with the concept of sustainable and ecological development.The Chapter 5 gives out Thirty Rules of rural pattern language for Farmer House. They may offer the power for planners, architects, peasants and rural officers, and guide them for the construction of Farmer House.The Chapter 6, as the conclusion, accesses the value of Farmer House research and discuss the necessity and possibility for architects to work in rural areas for a better life and living of peasants in China.