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Drawing on the author's extensive fieldwork in the Dong areas in southwest China, this book presents a detailed picture of the Dong's buildings and techniques, with new insights into the Dong's cosmology and rituals of everyday life meshed with the architecture, and the symbolic meanings.
List of contents
Preface Acknowledgement 1.The Geography of the Dong 2.The Cosmology of Separation and Reunion of the Dong 3.The Drum Tower as the Cosmological Centre of Separation and Reunion 4.Wind and Water (fengshui ¿¿) in Shaping the Dong Villages 5.The Traditional Building Techniques of the Dong 6.The Rituals which Accompany the Construction of Dong House 7.Conclusion: Symbolic Meaning, Ritual and Architectural Order Bibliography Index
About the author
Xuemei Li holds a PhD in Architectural History and History from the Architectural School at Sheffield University. Her research on the vernacular architecture and traditional techniques of the Dong community has been published in the
Journal of Landscape Research, the
Journal of Architecture, the
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians and the
Journal of Architectural Research Quarterly. She has taught Architectural History and Theory, and Architectural Structure courses in the universities of America, Canada and China. She was Visiting Scholar in Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, at Columbia University, and Associate Professor in He Xiangning College of Art and Design at Zhongkai Agricultural University.
Summary
Drawing on the author’s extensive fieldwork in the Dong areas in southwest China, this book presents a detailed picture of the Dong’s buildings and techniques, with new insights into the Dong’s cosmology and rituals of everyday life meshed with the architecture, and the symbolic meanings.
