The encyclopedia defines that civilian residential houses refer
to buildings for people to live in except palaces and government
offices. In the Three Gorges area, few ancient civilian residences
with cultural value have been left and most of them were built
during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. The
three representative ancient residential house groups can be found
in Fengjie Dadongmen (Great East Gate), Dachang and Xintan,
respectively in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
River, featuring differently the lives of businessmen, officials
and aristocrats and ordinary people. By 2008, when the water level
of the great Three Gorges Reservoir reaches 175 meters, they will
be buried forever. However, getting to know these old house groups
will help one understand the history and folk customs of the
area.
Fengjie residential houses: from living merchant's
fossils to poem museum
The Great East Gate civilian houses, located in the old city proper
of Fengjie were built at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the
beginning of the Republic of China (1912-1949) and
experienced? great renovation on a large scale between the
1930s and 1940s. They are among the most important ancient building
groups of the Three Gorges. Most of the houses have three stories,
with the ground floor used for business while the upper two for
living. Considered to be high rises at the time, these houses
feature simple designs in their corridors, doors and windows, a
typical building style of the Tujia ethnic group living in this
area. They record the prosperous trade and business of the place,
known as 'Kuizhou' at that time and thriving life of the people.
In earlier years, three-story buildings lined the two sides of
the street, but were destroyed. Now, seven such houses in the
middle of the street need immediate protection. As the planned
salvage budget of over 5.9 million yuan (US$710,000) was cut off
for various reasons, Zhao Guilin, who declines to live without
history, picked up the project. As a poet and expert of Three
Gorges residential houses, he knows clearly the historical value of
the Great East Gate civilian houses. Furthermore, he doesn't want
to see Fengjie, known as the city of poems, to lose itself on the
river bottom. Therefore, he came up with the idea to build six to
eight similar residential houses on a 74-meter-long street in a new
place, which will collect the essences of all kinds of civilian
residential houses. They will feature poems as well.
With 200,000 yuan (US$24,200) allocated by the Migration and
Development Bureau under the Three Gorges Construction Committee,
200,000 yuan from his own savings, 200,000 yuan borrowed from
friends and relatives and 300,000 to 400,000 yuan
(US$36,300-48,400) to be lent from banks, he starts his journey to
build a Poem Museum.
Since September 2002, he began collecting and purchasing wooden
partitions, decorated walls, old furniture and daily necessities
from local residents. He also asked some workers to demolish the
old houses and he himself is at the site all day long. At last,
tiles and logs fill 15 trucks and are carried to Baotaping, waiting
to be revitalized.
In fact, many ancient buildings in Fengjie face dismantling. Now
nearly 100 have been salvaged by individuals or cultural relic
units. After they are moved to a new place and rebuilt into private
museums, exhibitions and businesses, souvenir selling will be
available. In this sense, the revitalization of Great East Gate
residential houses will play as an example.?
Zhao said that those materials he transported to Baotaping look
like garbage today, but only when they are used to build new houses
will their value reappear.
Dachang residential houses: old prosperity of official
families
Dachang was the only completely preserved ancient town with a
history of 1,700 years before the Three Gorges Reservoir began
storing water. It used to be a strategic place in the Three Gorges
area and a gathering site for businessmen. Surrounded by water on
three sides and covering an area of 10,000 square meters, it has a
tranquil, easy and comfortable atmosphere.
Strolling among the residential houses in the Three Gorges area,
the Wen Clan Compound was a must-see. Initially built in the first
year of the Qing Dynasty (1644), it was the largest and
best-preserved building in the town. According to Wen Guanglin, the
10th generation grandson of the Wen family clan, his ancestor who
once took the position of a provincial governor for military and
civil affairs built the compound. The houses sit against the west
and face the east, covering 320 square meters. The courtyard is
composed of an entrance hall, central hall and back hall. The whole
house uses 12 pillars and 37 beams. The window lattices were
engraved with various designs.
Fu Shaoxiang, hostess of the Wen Clan Compound, remembers many
advantages of the house and the glorious past of her husband's
family. Wen Guanglin, host of the house, said they moved as the
government had asked them to.
The Wen Clan Compound could be seen as an epitome of the Dachang
ancient town whether in building techniques or family changes. As
the water filled the Three Gorges Reservoir, the compound was
buried forever. Another 37 residential houses and complete ancient
city walls went into the same fate with it. The government has
invested 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million to move cultural relics
out of the area. In several years time, it should be possible to
see new "ancient civilian houses" erected on a new site seven
kilometers away.
Xintan residential houses: space for common
people
Ancient houses made from gray bricks used to be the unique
landscape of Xintan, a section of the Xiling Gorge, one of the
Three Gorges. Now, however, they were the first group of houses
swallowed by the Three Gorges Reservoir.
In ancient times, a family's house usually had three to four
floors. Several stone steps would lead to an arch with exquisite
design and colorful decoration. Another stairway connects the arch
to a gateway and courtyard and a third stairway finally to the main
house. This was the case of houses for common people. Rich families
would have three to four courtyards, countless stairs and winding
corridors. Outsiders might find it hard to get out.
All these magical scenes have become a thing of the past. Today
people can only see residential houses of a local flavor newly
built on Mount Phoenix one kilometer away from the Three Gorges
dam. On top of the mountain, people can see five renovated houses
belonging to Zheng Wanzhan, Zhen Yunnian, Peng Shuyuan and Zheng
Wanlang. They are all built with wood and bricks, sitting against
the south and facing north. The ridges point to the sky and the
eaves turn upward. The wall base, stairs, courtyard, doorframe and
lintel are all built with stones from mountains along the Three
Gorges, on which are engraved designs of figures, beasts, flowers,
grass, insect and fish. These simple but delicate stone carvings
combine to form a picture-story book. The gray bricks used to build
outer walls are baked from yellow earth with firewood. As they are
only two centimeters thick, they are called "thread brick" by the
locals. When building walls, workers first make a hollow box with
several bricks and then fill in with rubble and mud. The houses
therefore are solid and cool in summer. The tiles on top of the
roof are laid out in a unique way and at equal distance. No rain
leaks through the ceiling and no tile will need to be added for 100
years.
A typical house here is that of Peng Shuyuan. It was said to be
built according to feng shui (or geomancy). The overall structure
is in the style of the Chinese character "shou," meaning longevity.
The corridor is slanting in the northern part and the angle between
the door of wing rooms and wall is oblique. However, after the Peng
family moved in, they experienced many difficulties and two members
even died unnaturally. So they asked another geomancer who
suggested opening the door in the back. Thereafter, two of the Peng
family members succeeded in imperial examinations and the whole
life of the family became better. Despite the superstitious color,
this kind of house represents folk customs of the Three Gorges
area.
Except for these ancient-style houses in Zigui, most new
buildings for immigrants are in Western styles with Roman pillars
or look like match boxes. The immigrants from the Three Gorges feel
happy for their new life.
(Beijing Youth Daily translated by Li Jinhui and Daragh
Moller for China.org.cn, December 24, 2003)
