Uyghur Residential Building Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Aywang Sailai took shape as the Uyghur people settled along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin. The dwelling's plan has no central axis, and the areas of courtyard and living rooms flex with the household's population and wealth—showing that its method was never a once-fixed blueprint, but rather measured and tailored across generations in specific family homes: rooms are divided into guest rooms that also serve as living rooms, dining rooms, rear rooms, storage rooms, and shower rooms; in front of the living rooms an outer corridor is set, and beneath the ground-floor corridor a solid, non-heatable kang (raised platform) called a "shugai" is left for outdoor sitting. The builders are all male, with no written records, passing the craft down through oral instruction from generation to generation.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Aywang Sailai is a typical Uyghur dwelling architectural form in Hotan. "Aywang" refers to the square structure protruding from the middle of the roof, connoting brightness and ventilation; "Sailai" refers to the parlour or guest-receiving space within this kind of building; the whole building is called "Aywang Sailai." The Aywang is a closed, inward-courtyard planar layout, in which the living space is composed of small rooms such as guest rooms that also serve as living rooms, dining rooms, rear rooms, storage rooms, and shower rooms. In front of the courtyard-facing living rooms an outer corridor is often set, and the ground-floor outer corridor often has a solid, non-heatable kang, namely the "shugai," for outdoor sitting. The Aywang Sailai has no definite central axis, and its planar arrangement is very flexible; the courtyard and building areas are not fixed, being large or small according to population and economic conditions. In architectural decoration, the Hotan Aywang mostly adopts the technique of contrast between solid and void with emphasis on focal ornamentation. The coloured paintings on the corridor eaves, patterned tiles, wood carvings, and window-lattice ornaments are mostly floral or geometric patterns. Its decoration is mainly on parts such as the corridor columns and the side windows of the Aywang, dominated by wood carving with exquisite sculpting. The Uyghur Aywang Sailai dwelling construction technique is mainly transmitted through masters, practiced only by males, with no written records, passed down through oral instruction from generation to generation.
The sugai bench
A solid, unheated bench on the ground-floor verandah used for sitting outside, set apart from the heated kang inside.
The closed courtyard plan with subdivided rooms
A closed inner-courtyard plan of small rooms for living, dining, sleeping, storage and washing, arranged flexibly around the yard.
Eave painting, patterned brick and carved screens
Decoration plays on solid and void, concentrating on painted eaves, patterned brick, carving and floral or geometric window grilles, chiefly on columns and side windows.
Craftsmen all men, passed by word of mouth
The craft is learned from masters by word of mouth; all practitioners are men and no written record exists, so measures and plans live in memory.
Distribution along the southern rim of the Tarim Basin
The house form is found in towns and villages along the desert edge of the Tarim Basin, especially at Yutian, Moyu, Minfeng, Pishan, Hotan, Shache and Kashgar.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Uyghur Aywang Sailai dwellings are mainly distributed in the towns and villages along the desert edge of the Tarim Basin, especially in Yutian, Moyu, Minfeng, Pishan, Hotan, Shache (Yarkand), and Kashgar along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin desert. The space within the Aywang is generally divided into two parts: the open courtyard space and the enclosed living space.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
With the promotion and popularization of modern dwelling architectural forms, experienced folk craftsmen have dwindled, and the traditional Aywang Sailai dwelling construction technique is in an endangered state.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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