Towards a Revival of Contemporary Chinese Countryside a thesis submitted to the Graduate School of University of Cincinnati in partial fulfilment of the requirement for Master of Architecture in the School of Architecture and Interior Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning 2016 Kuang Li Bachelor of Fine Arts, The University of Georgia Committee Chair: Professor Vincent Sansalone Abstract In the past quarter century, China has been developing at something that fits these traditions but at the same time giving an explosive rate. However, social and economic inequity has them updates with modern techniques and technologies, and become more and more severe issue, especially in the rural areas. should keep future developments in mind. Many villages and small townships are lacking the infrastructures, Rural communities in central northeastern China present a such as community center, educational and healthcare facilities, to unique set of problem different from other parts of China. Farming support a healthy community. Even though the government has season is much shorter due to weather, and many commercial crops shifted a lot of their attentions towards these rural agriculture are not suitable for the north. Also, there is heavier pollution in the areas, these communities are still developing at much slower rate air, water and land due to the heavy industrial factory that was comparing to the urban eastern coastal regions. developed in the past quarter century. Water scarcity is a major Depopulation is a major problem that most rural areas are problem in these areas. facing, the younger generations are seeking education and job opportunity in the metropolis and coming back to their hometown only to retire, the population left are mostly kids, teens and elderly people. Facilities for these age groups is a crucial part of this project. Also, traditions are much valued in rural areas, and each village has their unique customs and aesthetics. It is important to design ii Acknowledgements Thank you Mama and Papa for supporting me to chase after my dreams. Thank you Xianqiang Ge for all the site visits , photos, and documents. iv Table of Contents Abstract ii A Community Center Intent, Bringing Modernity to the Village 28 Acknowledgements iv Site, Towards a Future 30 Program, a Little Bit More Than What the Villagers 32 Table of Contents vi Wanted The Reading Room List of Figures vii The Gym The Grand Hall (Interior) Introduction The Grand Hall (Exterior), Storage The Villagers and Their Land 2 The Education Fields Chinese as a Collective 6 Modern Material, Modern Design, and Traditional 36 The Story of Da Bo Luo, Zhao Qiang, Heng Shui, Hebei, 10 Values P.R. China, Earth New Possibilities, How a Single Party System Pushes 12 Bibliography 38 Projects Forward Contemporary Architect and Their Romance with the 14 Appendix 40 Countryside Critical Regionalist or Not? 16 Traditions, Traditions and Traditions 18 Precedents Forbidden City 20 Rural Urban Framework 22 TAO 24 Wandel Hoefer Lorch 26 vi Figure1.1 Urban Village http://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/ system/2014/05/15/020026360.shtml Figure1.2 Factory Village http://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/ system/2014/05/15/020026360.shtml Figure1.3 Suburban Village http://w.baike.com/8c7b5a22ca7a4df686daefd3ac d57ab1.html Figure1.4 Contested Village http://www.wanhuajing.com/d88130 Figure1.5 Rural Village http://www.0769zd.net/film/paishelx/827.html Figure1.6 Hukou http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-11/21/ content_18954798.htm Figure 1.7 Da Bo Luo Village by Xianqiang Ge Figure 1.8 Mythology, Pangu Parting Earth and Heaven http://www.cits.net/china-guide/china-traditions/ chinese-legend-pangu.html Figure 1.9 Confucius http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/ posts/2013/12/confuciusbanner/c8129f9ce.jpg List of Figures Figure 1.10 Da Bo Luo Village Government Figure 2.4 The Handmade Paper Museum by TAO Figure 3.7 Grand Hall by Xianqiang Ge http://www.dezeen.com/2012/02/16/museum-of- by Author handcraft-paper-by-tao/ Figure 1.11 Artist Rendering of Village Development Figure 3.8 Courtyard Plan Figure 2.5 The Handmade Paper Museum Ground by Author Unknown Artist, Provided by Xianqiang Ge Level Plan by TAO http://www.dezeen.com/2012/02/16/museum-of- Figure 3.9 Square Figure 1.12 The China Pavilion for Expo Milan 2015 handcraft-paper-by-tao/ by Author by Tsinghua University + Studio Link-Arc http://www.designboom.com/architecture/china- Figure 2.6 Munich Jewish Community Center Site Figure 3.10 Dang Sha pavilion-expo-milan-2015-studio-link-arc-tsinghua- Model by Author university-03-06-2014/ http://www.archdaily.com/317862/the-jewish- center-in-munich-wandel-hoefer-lorch-hirsch Figure 1.13 Lion Dancing at a Spring Festival Fair http://news.022china.com/2009/01-31/28658_0. Figure 3.1 Current Conditions of Da Bo Luo Village html by Xianqiang Ge Figure 1.13 A Monthly Large Trading Fair Figure 3.2 Current Conditions of the Chosen Site http://difang.kaiwind.com/jiangsu/ by Xianqiang Ge zblmsy1/201311/11/t20131111_1199419.shtml Figure 3.3 Entrance Figure 2.1 The Forbidden City Museum by Author http://www.jetbay.com/beijing/forbidden-city Figure 3.4 Reading Room Figure 2.2 The Forbidden City Museum in Snow by Author http://club.qingdaonews.com/ showAnnounce_49_4032935_1_0.htm Figure 3.5 Reading Room by Author Figure 2.3 Rural Urban Framework Qinmo Village Project Figure 3.6 Gym and Grand Hall http://www.archdaily.com/378261/qinmo-village- by Author rural-urban-framework viii Figure 1.1 Urban Village Figure 1.2 Factory Village Figure 1.3 Suburban Village Figure 1.4 Contested Village Figure 1.5 Rural Village Figure 1.6 Hukou Introduction The Villagers and Their Land How is rural population defined in China? rural conditions. Differentiating between the various rural There are many ways. It may depend on where they live; conditions is important. Some of the rural parts are drawing it may be what they do; or it is how they appear on the outside. population towards them. As Rural Urban Framework defined Maybe all of the above. But officially it is defined only one way, them into five types, urban village, factory village, suburban Hukou. What is Hukou? It is a state issued identification system village, contested village and rural village. enacted during Mao’s era for each family. In Hukou, you are Urban Village: when a city expands so fast that it starting to enclave labelled whether your whole family is rural population or urban its surrounding villages, happens a lot in southeastern China. population, and which jurisdiction you belongs. The Hukou policies Factory Village: villages that grow around large factories. The define your rights towards land developing, healthcare, access to workers spend their free time in these villages. education. Because of these policies, many rural populations want Suburban Village: these richer rural population developed into to obtain urban Hukou to receive a better education for their next little island almost similar to the suburban United States, they generations and other benefits such as better healthcare. Even communities are becoming new middle class Chinese. though newer amendments were added to bridge this difference, Contested Village: these villages are in a state of rapid development, but it has not solved this issues completely. Rural population still but as the policy and regulation from the different levels of want to obtain urban Hukou, thus the depopulation of the rural 1. Wang, Fei-Ling. “The Hukou (Household Registration) System - Chinese Studies - Oxford Bibliographies - Obo.” The Hukou (Household China.1 Registration) System. May 18, 2015. Accessed January 22, 2016. http:// www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199920082/obo- As China develops at a rapid pace, there are a few different 9780199920082-0084.xml?rskey=a1BCRi. 2 Figure 1.7 Da Bo Luo Village A typical rural village in Northern China government shifts so rapidly, some villager is waiting out as other leased their land to developers. Rural Village: Mostly unchanged, but most young people started working in the city and send most of their income home to build a better house as a symbol of status. The farmland holds no efficiency of production. These areas economically depend on the city, but still holds a symbolic meaning of home.2 This thesis focuses on the Rural Village. 2. Bolchover, Joshua, and John Lin. “Rural Urban Framework Village Urbanization.” In Rural Urban Frameworks: Transforming the Chinese Countryside, 11-16. Basel: Birkhauser, 2014. 4 Figure 1.8 Mythology, Pangu Parting Earth and Heaven Introduction Chinese as a Collective Architecture design is a service for the people. When and every individual forms this collective personality, Jun Zi. In designing, it is important to understand your client, especially on China, Jun Zi is the most qualified and most ideal Chinese. public projects. For a project in China, it is important to get to know its So who is Jun Zi? How is Jun Zi different from other collective people. How would you describe a race? Swiss psychiatrist C.G. Jung unconscious, such as Gentleman, Saint, Samurai or Cowboy?6 use the collective unconscious to describe this unconscious mind Sun Yat-sen in his 1942 speech talked about the fundamental shared among beings of the same species.3 Chinese writer Qiuyu difference, Asian culture is based on “kingly way” which is about Yu derived from this term and wrote “the ultimate achievement humaneness, conquering with righteousness and benevolence, of the culture, is a personality. The ultimate achievement of the whereas western culture is more about the “mighty way” or Chinese culture is the Chinese collective personality.”4 arbitrariness, conquering with force.7 Qiuyu Yu continued the As Jung points out, the collective unconscious is not formed in one lifetime.