Wan Yuqi
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Wan Yuqi, Male, Tujia, from Yongshun, Hunan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Tujia Diaojiaolou Building Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-211). The tradition is documented in Yongshun, Hunan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tujia Diaojiaolou Building Craftsmanship in Yongshun, Hunan: The building of the corner-tower house (zhuanjiaolou) originated in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and after the Peng clan regime ruled western Hunan the corner-tower house began to develop comprehensively.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Wan Yuqi is anchored in the documented technical standards of Tujia Diaojiaolou Building Craftsmanship in Yongshun, Hunan. Within the documented technical tradition of Tujia Diaojiaolou Building Craftsmanship in Yongshun, Hunan: The building craft of the Tujia corner-tower house (also called the "zhuanjiaolou") in Yongshun County, Hunan Province, is a traditional hand craft with ethnic character created by the Tujia people in their long social life, and is called by experts and scholars a "living fossil" of ancient architecture. In the Yongzheng reign of the Qing, the prohibitions on beams-and-columns and on tiling were lifted, and the corner-tower house spread widely again. After the founding of New China, people's living conditions developed considerably, and the building craft of the corner-tower house reached its peak. The building craft of the corner-tower house has many process steps, chiefly: preparing materials, working them, assembling the frames (paishan), and raising the main beam. Most Tujia corner-tower houses are of wooden structure, stilted (ganlan) buildings, with flying eaves and upturned corners, corridors on all four sides, and the overhanging wooden balustrades carved with patterns such as the myriad-character lattice, the sub-character lattice, and the square lattice, symbolising auspiciousness. The suspended columns are octagonal, hexagonal, or square, with bottoms carved with patterns such as embroidered balls and golden gourds; the window lattice is carved with twin phoenixes facing the sun, magpies on a branch, a lion rolling a brocade ball, as well as peonies, chrysanthemums and various flowers and grasses — archaic, elegant and graceful, beautiful and practical, with a distinct individuality and the character of hand craft. The forms of the corner-tower house are varied, chiefly the single-hanging type, the double-hanging type, and the four-sided-water type, with such architectural features as "no step-stone, no tower; no gourd, no charm; no turning, no tower." With unique structure and lively form, it is a precious crystallization of folk art integrating architecture, painting and carving, and an outstanding representative in the history of Chinese architectural art. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Documented process record": The building craft of the corner-tower house has many process steps, chiefly: preparing materials, working them, assembling the frames (paishan), and raising the main beam.
Documented process record
The building craft of the corner-tower house has many process steps, chiefly: preparing materials, working them, assembling the frames (paishan), and raising the main beam.
Core Technique I
The building craft of the Tujia corner-tower house (also called the "zhuanjiaolou") in Yongshun County, Hunan Province, is a traditional hand craft with ethnic character created by the Tujia people in their long social life, and is called by experts and scholars a "living fossil" of ancient architecture.
Core Technique II
In the Yongzheng reign of the Qing, the prohibitions on beams-and-columns and on tiling were lifted, and the corner-tower house spread widely again.
Core Technique III
After the founding of New China, people's living conditions developed considerably, and the building craft of the corner-tower house reached its peak.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Wan Yuqi was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Tujia Diaojiaolou Building Craftsmanship, with Yongshun, Hunan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Tujia Diaojiaolou Building Craftsmanship in Yongshun, Hunan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2011 (batch 3), with Yongshun, Hunan as its declared area, and Yongshun County Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The building of the corner-tower house (zhuanjiaolou) originated in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and after the Peng clan regime ruled western Hunan the corner-tower house began to develop comprehensively.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wan Taoyuan | Xianfeng, Hubei | 04-1933 | Other regional school |
| Peng Shanyao | Yongshun, Hunan | 04-1934 | Same declared area |
| Liu Chengbai | Shizhutujiazuzizhi, Chongqing | 05-2888 | Other regional school |
| Wan Yuqi | Yongshun, Hunan | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。