Lulingchuantong Residential Building Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
In the Song dynasty the vigorous economic and cultural development of the Luling region promoted a flourishing of architecture; the Bailuzhou Academy, first built in the Southern Song period, became a representative work of educational architecture of the time and was renowned south of the Yangtze, and the Luling traditional building technique took shape and developed from this.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Luling traditional building technique is an important branch of Chinese traditional timber-frame building technique: a traditional handicraft by which Luling craftsmen, using timber as the main building material, construct dwellings that are both practical and handsome through consummate carpentry. It originated in and is distributed over the Jitai Basin in Jiangxi, and takes its name from the fact that Ji'an City in Jiangxi Province and its surrounding areas were anciently called "Luling". Luling traditional buildings are known throughout the world for their courtyard-with-light-well layout, their "magpie-nest palace" roofs, their dark-brick horse-head gables and their timber frames decorated with gilt wood carvings. The constituent elements of the building technique may be summed up as the organisation and process of construction, styles and structure, and manual operating skills. In the early stage of construction, the head of the carpentry workshop generally discusses and settles the form and style of the building with the proprietor. In the course of construction, the head of the carpentry workshop generally leads and the head of the masonry workshop assists; the master craftsmen of each trade perform their own duties and work in close coordination, and each process step follows closely on the last. The structure, dimensions and setting-out of materials for a building are generally decided by the workshop head or the team head. Luling craftsmen are good at summing up the relevant knowledge in mnemonic doggerel, covering the manual skills of detail work and the skills of using tools. The Luling traditional building technique has pronounced characteristics: the signature layout of a front courtyard with a light well, together with the "heavenly gate" and "heavenly eye" devices, the magpie-nest palace roof construction and the dark-brick horse-head gable craft are all distinctive, while the interior adopts a through-tenon timber structure and decorative work. The Luling traditional building technique also embodies fengshui culture: the investigation of a house's siting and orientation, and the stages of laying the foundation, choosing an auspicious day to start work, raising the ridge beam, completing the building and moving in generate various related ceremonies, and from these there has formed a whole set of process flows and trade customs for building a house.
Archival Record of Process Steps
In the course of construction, the head of the carpentry workshop generally leads and the head of the masonry workshop assists; the master craftsmen of each trade perform their own duties and work in close coordination, and each process step follows closely on the last. The Luling traditional building technique also embodies fengshui culture: the investigation of a house's siting and orientation, and the stages of laying the foundation, choosing an auspicious day to start work, raising the ridge beam, completing the building and moving in generate various related ceremonies, and from these there has formed a whole set of process flows and trade customs for building a house.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Luling traditional dwelling building technique originated in and is distributed over the Jitai Basin in Jiangxi, with the Taihe County area as its centre of gravity, spreading layer by layer to the counties of Ji'an City and to southern and northern Jiangxi. In its methods it differs from the neighbouring Huizhou-style dwellings: Huizhou stresses whitewashed walls and dark tiles with high walls and deep courtyards, whereas the Luling line uses a front courtyard with a light well together with magpie-nest palace roofs and dark-brick horse-head gables, adopts a through-tenon timber structure inside, and sums up its detail methods in mnemonic doggerel handed down by word of mouth.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the Ming dynasty Luling gentry built schools, temples, ancestral halls and residences in great numbers; today a large number of exquisite ancient buildings survive, including the Sima Di, the Xiangguo Fu, the Dafu Di, ancestral halls and academies, and they have become models for the transmission of the technique today. The Luling traditional building technique embodies the Chinese nation's spirit of valuing the harmonious coexistence of the natural environment and human dwellings, and it has considerable historical and cultural value.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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