When a House Becomes a Castle

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2021-1-151-171

Gayane S. Margaryan
Russian-Armenian University, Yerevan, Armenia
E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-3833-1193

Abstract 

China's history is rich in urban planning traditions. In some regions of the country, in different epochs, several forms of dormitories were developed, which gave rise to original forms of urban dwelling. In this article we have considered two types of dwellings: the most common type, the traditional house of Siheyuan, also known as "Beijing house", or "Beijing courtyard", and a less common, atypical for large urban centers, but interesting with regard to urban planning and social structure, a house called "Tulou". Both of these types of dwellings in the form and principles of the hostel are expressions of the system-forming features of the general Chinese mentality and the cultural concept of Zhongguo and at the same time the conceptual features of the urban planning principles of different ethnic groups and sub-ethnoses of the Celestial Empire. They are united by one important feature of the traditional and, in many ways, modern Chinese mentality: clan system. The idea of a family clan was "fueled" by Confucian ancestor cults and filial piety. Whole clans lived in the houses of Siheyuan, the houses themselves were named after clans (for example, the house of Zhao) and these clans were urban, like Shakespeare's Montagues and Capulets. They fought for spheres of influence, reconciled, concluding tandems with each other, but they were all united by their commitment to urban living standards and urban values. The inhabitants of Tulou were not representatives of the titular Han nation, they were representatives of the Hakka people. They erected then-gigantic buildings away from large urban centers, at first explicitly opposing themselves to the former nation, but later some of these houses became city-forming elements, overgrown with urban infrastructure, and turned into citadels. Typologically, tulous are similar to Scottish medieval castles, North Caucasian Vainakh towers, kasbah citadels in the Maghreb countries, as well as Israeli kibbutz. The relations of the inhabitants of Tulou, the Hakka mountain people, with other inhabitants of the Middle Empire were not easy. The whole history of the Hakka people in Zhongguo China has been a struggle to preserve their ethnicity and identity. The Tulou castle houses have helped this proud people to survive and preserve their mentality. In fact, the Tulou houses reproduce the peculiarities of the Hakka people's attitude and character (individualism and self-isolationism), while the Siheyuan houses reflect the mental features and the lifestyle of the Han people which is the titular nation of the Middle Kingdom (collectivism and hierarchy). According to researchers, the concepts of the Confucian world order were used as the basis of the Siheyuan dwelling, while Tulou castles were built according to the principles of the Taoist canon. The Confucian world order is based on the man-family-state scheme, whereas the Taoist worldview tradition is based on the individual-family-universe paradigm.

Keywords: siheyuan, tulou, hakka, planning principles, architectural complexes, world order, Confucian building traditions, facade, interior space of the house.

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About author

Gayane S. Margaryan

PhD in Art History
Professor of the Department of Russian and World Literature and Culture.
Russian-Armenian University, Yerevan, Armenia
E-mail: [email protected]

For citation:
Margaryan G. When a House Becomes a Castle. Urbis et Orbis. Microhistory and Semiotics of the City. 2021. 1. P. 151–171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2021-1-151-171