‘The Native Language of Space: The Spatial Connotations of Southern Fujian-Style HE-YUAN Architecture 空間母語:閩南合院建築的空間意涵’

Sponsor: Centre for Chinese Research
Place: Room 120, C.K.Choi Building, 1855 West Mall, Vancouver, BC
By: Shu-Cheng Huang
Type: Seminar
Dates: Wednesday, Nov 04, 2015 to Wednesday, Nov 04, 2015
Time: 4-5:30 p.m.

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Abstract

In Taiwan or China, it is easily to notice that a large of common words or idioms can connect to the cultural connotations of He-Yuan合院architecture. For example, the idioms quoted from the classic stories of “Lun-Yu”論語 — “wàn-rèn-gōng-qiáng”萬仞宮牆(palace wall higher than ten thousand meters), “fèn-tǔ-zhi-qiáng”糞土之牆(wall of dirty soil), and “dēng-táng-rù-shì”登堂入室(pass through the hall into the inner). Taiwanese or Chinese also often use He-Yuan architectural terms to describe human relationships, such as: dà-fáng大房, èr-fáng二房, zhèng-shì正室, cè-shì側室, cousin堂兄弟, and jia-guó-dòng-liáng家國棟梁(a person able to bear heavy responsibilities). Being the main cultural fountainhead of Chinese traditional buildings, He-Yuan architecture has a long history. Through architectural style, we can understand how the people suffice the way of life, express their thoughts and consciousness, and extend naturalism into a man-made environment. In this lecture, Professor Shu-Cheng Huang will use Chinese traditional literature and aesthetics theories to explore the spatial connotations of He-Yuan architecture. Professor Huang will highlight as a case study, the Lin An-Tai Historical House in Taipei, which preserves the architectural style of southern Fujian.

合院,作為中國傳統建築的主題,由來久遠。它是漢民族滿足其思想觀念、生活方式與實質環境等需求,在建築上所營造出來的具體民居形式,所以生活中出現許多與它相關的語彙。如出自《論語》的「萬仞宮牆」、「糞土之牆」、「登堂入室」等;甚至一般人所謂的「大房」、「二房」,「正室」、「側室」,「堂」兄弟,「家國棟梁」等,也都是以建築名詞做為德行判斷或關係親疏的說明和比方。

《大學》:「富潤屋,德潤身。」合院建築與儒家思想遙相呼應。因此,本講題以林安泰古厝為例,分從一、「堂」的空間安排;二、堂前「庭」的安排;三、空間位序的正偏、內外與層次;四、重門疊院的充實與生機等四個面相,探討閩南式合院建築的空間意涵。

About the Speaker

Shu-Cheng Huang was born and raised in Taichung country in central Taiwan. She received her M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2006) from the Department of Chinese of National Taiwan Normal University. Her dissertation focuses on the textual structure and rhetorical style of Chinese literature, including classical and modern poetry and essays, Song dynasty lyric poetry (ci), and other genres. Recently, she has also used theories and principles of structure to explore the spatial aesthetics of Chinese traditional He-Yuan合院  architecture. Her research has been generously funded by the ROC Ministry of Science and Technology. She also taught Chinese language at a Taiwanese junior high school from 1989 to 2006.

She is currently an associate professor the Department of Oriental Languages and Cultures of Tzu Chi University in Hualien. For 2015-16, she is a visiting scholar in UBC’s Department of Asian Studies.

Please note that the talk will be given in Mandarin.

RSVP link: http://goo.gl/forms/u6rqcQNCzc