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Authenticity, Preservation, and the Transnational

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AUTHENTICITY, PRESERVATION, AND THE TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITY OF SPACE: COMPARING YIN YU TANG AND THE LINDEN CENTRE by Mariko Azuma A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art History Department of Art and Art History The University of Utah December 2018 Copyright © Mariko Azuma 2018 All Rights Reserved T h e University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF THESIS APPROVAL The thesis of Mariko Azuma has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Winston C. Kyan , Chair 9/25/18 Date Approved Lela J. Graybill , Member 9/25/18 Date Approved Shundana Yusaf , Member 9/25/18 Date Approved and by Paul Stout , Chair of the Department of Art and Art History and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT My thesis compares the theoretical ideas of authenticity through two forms of rural Chinese vernacular architecture, Yin Yu Tang in Salem, MA, U.S.A. and the Linden Centre in Xizhou, Yunnan Province, China. Yin Yu Tang is a house originally built in the Huizhou Region in Southeast China around 1800 and then eventually moved to the Peabody Essex Museum in New England. The Linden Centre, formerly known as Yang’s Compound, was built in 1947 and did not experience physical recontextualization but was transformed into a boutique hotel operated by an American. Through art historical analysis that is informed by the social sciences, museum studies, and tourism studies, I argue that Yin Yu Tang and the Linden Centre are examples of vernacular architecture that use recontextualization to cultivate an authenticity found within the framework of display. The structures share similar histories of transformation and provide the contemporary visitor a chance to escape from reality to experience the past, the foreign, and the endangered. However, they also provide insight into the tendencies of preservation efforts as well as the future of preservation that must increasingly consider the intersections of space, time, and display. Through a consideration of Yin Yu Tang and the Linden Centre’s past, present, and future, my thesis closely examines conceptual identifiers such as placemaking through intangible culture, frameworks of display, the processes of authentication, and the creation of tradition. Ultimately, I argue that the long-term approach to heritage preservation is multifaceted and reveals the idealistic illusion of authenticity that has the potential to initiate radical transformations. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. vi Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 The Sites..................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology .............................................................................................................. 3 Theoretical Overview................................................................................................. 6 2. THE PAST .................................................................................................................... 10 Preservation and Authenticity .................................................................................. 10 Yin Yu Tang and the Linden Centre in Contemporary Context .............................. 17 Transformation from Space to Place........................................................................ 24 3. THE PRESENT ............................................................................................................ 52 Placemaking and the Framework of Display ........................................................... 52 Communicating the Intangible at Yin Yu Tang ....................................................... 52 Communicating the Intangible at the Linden Centre ............................................... 56 The Metaphor of the Frame ..................................................................................... 59 Reframing of Yin Yu Tang and the Linden Centre ........................................ 59 Authenticity to Be Gazed At: The Visuality of Sightseeing and Tourism .............. 63 Performative Authenticity in Tourism ..................................................................... 67 4. THE FUTURE .............................................................................................................. 78 Authentication and the Process of Becoming .......................................................... 78 The Creation of Tradition ............................................................................... 81 The Future of Placemaking ...................................................................................... 82 5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 89 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................ 95 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is a culmination of my graduate research at the University of Utah as well as the support and encouragement that has helped develop my enjoyment of art history. Firstly, I would like to thank my Supervisory Committee Chair, Prof. Winston Kyan, who has spent countless hours guiding me and teaching me effective research skills. His extensive knowledge and eagerness have cultivated me in to the researcher I am today, and I am grateful for his invaluable mentorship beginning from my undergraduate research endeavors. I would also like to thank the dedicated efforts of Prof. Lela Graybill and Prof. Shundana Yusaf. Thank you to both of you for your guidance and expertise in art history and architectural history that have shed light on essential aspects of my thesis. Thank you to Dr. Wei (Windy) Zhao for introducing me to the complex and intriguing concepts of architectural heritage through her course titled Chinese Vernacular Tradition and Cultural Heritage, which has inspired key arguments of this thesis. Thank you to Dr. Nancy Berliner, the current Wu Tung Curator of Chinese Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Brian Linden, the founder of the Linden Centre, for their cooperation and vital insight about their respective projects and passions. I would like to extend my appreciation to the entire Art History Program faculty and members of the School of Architecture faculty whom I have had the privilege to learn from. Thank you for providing me with an education that has challenged me and piqued my curiosity for future discoveries that lie within the dynamic fields. I would like to thank the Department of Art and Art History for opportunities such as the Graduate Teaching Assistantship, which enriched my graduate career through teaching undergraduate courses and assisting professors. I appreciate support from the Etta Keith Eskridge Travel Award and the Graduate School’s Travel Assistance Award for aiding my research at the Linden Centre in Xizhou, China and presenting my research at the International Congress, Preserving Transcultural Heritage in Lisbon, Portugal. I would also like to thank the Asia Center for providing me with the federally funded Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) that enabled me to study Mandarin in China and further inspired my interests in the visuality of tourism and museum studies. Lastly, thank you to my family and friends who have provided me with consistent encouragement and emotional support. I am grateful for each of you. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Sites The search for authenticity is an ambitious endeavor manifested in the consistent thirst for discovery, renewal, and gratification of something “real,” despite the uncertainty of its ultimate attainability. Within the field of art history, the preservation, commodification, and display of art and architecture inside and outside museums is tethered to the idea of the authentic as well as the construction of authority around such authentic objects.1 This thesis examines the theoretical ideas of authenticity and the built environment through a comparative case study of two key architectural structures: Yin Yu Tang in Salem, MA, U.S.A. and the Linden Centre in Xizhou, Yunnan Province, China (Fig. 1). Yin Yu Tang is a two-story, sixteen-bedroom structure that was once home to the Huang merchant family in the Huizhou Region of Southeast China.2 It was built towards the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and housed generations of the Huang family for 1 For more information surrounding the search for authenticity, see Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, “Hypperreal Monuments of the Mind: Traditional Chinese Architecture and Disneyland,” in Traditional Dwelling and Settlements Review, vol. 23, No. 2 (Spring 2012), Dean MacCannell, “Staged Authenticity: Arrangement of Social Space in Tourist Settings,” in American Journal of Sociology 79, no. 3, 1973, and David Phillips, Exhibiting Authenticity (Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1997), 197. 2 Second Story, “Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home,” Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home, last modified December 2002, accessed September 1, 2018, http://yinyutang.pem.org/house/base.html. 2 more that 200 years until the mid-1980s.3 Through a series of events, the then Curator
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