The Research On The Grand Courtyard In The Turn Of Qing And Min Dynasty In Wuan

The traditional residence houses are an important carrier of Chinese history andculture, and valuable material and spiritual wealth conveying traditional humanisticview, spiritual emotions, value orientation and aesthetic ideas. In Wuan city, Hebeiprovince, there are a lot of little-known residence compounds built in late QingDynasty and early Republic of China periods, which belonged to local businessmenand government officials. They are referred to as “dayuan” hereinafter. Thoseresidence compounds are a unique kind of local buildings because of their distinctivearchitectural structure and cultural background. They are of great value of study asthey have embodied the cultural tastes and aesthetic tendencies of their builders andusers back to the early20th century in Wuan.This thesis studies well-preserved dayuan in Wuan, especially those in Boyan,Shucun and Beianzhuang areas, examining their choice of locations, plane layout,space composition, structure system, decoration features and defense technologies bysurveying, mapping, visiting locals and data collection. The first part of the thesisintroduces the research background and theories. The second part explores theformation mechanism of the dayuan from the aspects of natural environment andcultural context, finding how they used and transformed nature and how they wereinfluenced by the traditional ritual, the feng-shui culture, family system and localbusiness culture when they were built. The third part offers an elaborative analysis tothe dayuan architecture’s space layout, from the compound as whole to separate familyresidences inside, then one courtyard unit and one single building. The fourth part introduces typical architectural details, and interprets the cultural connotations of thedecoration style. The fifth part focuses on the dayuan’s characteristics in defense,including the use of mazes, disguise and logistics. The sixth part analyzes dayuan’sconstruction technologies, including the drainage system, ventilation, moisture-proofmeasures and ground and wall construction. The last part of the thesis is a case study ofXu’s Mansion in Boyan Township, with a display of the result of surveying andmapping.As a precious non-renewable resource, the dayuan architecture in Wuan is acombination of family culture and geo-culture. They can not only help interpret localhistory and customs, but also provide design references for future construction ofeco-friendly residence buildings with local features. With verified data and systematicanalysis, this thesis aims to give a comprehensive induction on the architecturalfeatures of the dayuan in Wuan, as a reference for future protection and as promotionof local culture.