Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Boundaries and openings: spatial strategies in the Chinese dwelling

  • Policy and Practice
  • Published:
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Dwelling implies the establishment of a meaningful relationship between people and a given environment. Through physical spaces, people identify and orient themselves by symbolically expressing the meaning of social–cultural behavior. This paper examines the spatial meanings in the traditional Chinese family by analyzing the placement and arrangement of walls and courtyards. Specifically, this paper studies how physical space was defined and developed within the Chinese family by the spatial articulation of human relationships and the functions of daily life and how these spatial arrangements reinforced family hierarchies through purposeful separation and togetherness. The findings reveal that through binding together the family relationship and spatial concerns, Confucian discourses and practice were attached to the daily life of every Chinese. In addition, this study indicates that the primary concern in a Chinese house was not togetherness but separateness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baker, H. D. (1979). Chinese family and kinship. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Confucius. (1997). The analects [Electronic version]. EAWC (Exploring Ancient World Culture) Anthology. Retrieved July 12, 2006 from http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/analects.htm.

  • Knapp, R. G. (1999). China’s old dwellings. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Y. (1935). My country and my people. New York: The Halcyon House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Y. (1938). The wisdom of confucius. New York: The Modern Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Y. (1994). The Chinese. (Zhong Guo Ren). Beijing: Xue Ling Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, L. G. (1989). Chinese architecture. London: Academy Editions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, D. (2000). Chinese architectural history (Zhongguo Jianzhu Shi). Beijing: Chinese Architecture & Building Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rapoport, A. (1969). House form and culture. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulz, C. N. (1985). The concepts of dwelling—on the way to figurative architecture. New York: Rizzoli International Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slote, W. H. (1998). “Psychocultural dynamics within the confucian family”, confucianism and the family. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, L. (1990). Basic concepts of chinese complex space. Journal of Architect (Jianzhu Shi), 39, 70–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, J. (2004). Chinese spatial strategies: Imperial Beijing (pp. 1420–1911). London: Routledge Curzon.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Idaho, 1415 S Hawthorne Dr., Apt.#204, Moscow, ID, 83843, USA

    Xiao Hu

Authors
  1. Xiao Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao Hu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hu, X. Boundaries and openings: spatial strategies in the Chinese dwelling. J Hous and the Built Environ 23, 353–366 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-008-9123-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-008-9123-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation