In the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911) a Chinese merchant named Huang built a house for his family in a small, remote village in the southeastern region of Huizhou in China's Anhui Province. He named the house Yin Yu Tang. For seven generations, members of the Huang family ate, slept, laughed, cried, married, and gave birth in the house. By the mid-1990s, the surviving Huang family members moved away leaving the house empty and abandoned. In 1997 the house was moved to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and opened as a permanent exhibit.Yin Yu Tang provides a fascinating, in-depth look at Chinese domestic culture, architecture, craftsmanship, history, and the impact of these influences on individual lives. Nancy Berliner, one of the country's foremost experts on Chinese furniture and arts, takes the reader on a tour of this unique homestead providing detail on Yin Yu Tang's architecture, construction methods, decoration, furniture, and family heirlooms. She weaves a story of Chinese domestic life, culture, and the remarkable restoration and reconstruction at the Peabody Essex Museum in America.
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"If only walls could talk? Well, Yin Yu Tang's did, and what a story they have to tell." -- Asian Review of Books, August 27, 2003
"This book is recommended...for the Chinese history and culture sections of both public and academic libraries." -- Library Journal, November 1, 2003
"This book provides a wealth of information about the house and its residents." -- China Connection, Spring, 2003
"This book is recommended...for the Chinese history and culture sections of both public and academic libraries." -- Library Journal, November 1, 2003
"This book provides a wealth of information about the house and its residents." -- China Connection, Spring, 2003
About the Author
Nancy Berliner is curator of Chinese art at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and has curated exhibits of Chinese arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Yale University Art Gallery, among others. She has lectured at Harvard University, Dartmouth College, the Asia Society of Houston, and the ChinaInstitute. She has written for the New York Times, Asian Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Asian Art, and American Craft magazines, and is the author of Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture of the 16th and 17th Century, and Chinese Folk Art.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exploring how Chinese family life evolved,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Yin Yu Tang: The Architecture and Daily Life of a Chinese House (Hardcover)
The Yin Yu Tang House has become a public example of an ancient Chinese home as it resides as a permanent exhibit at the Salem, MA Essex Museum. Yin Yu Tang tells of the story behind the house and its creation, examining both Chinese history and architectural traditions in the process of exploring how Chinese family life evolved around this traditional home. Berliner is curator of Chinese art at the Essex Museum and is in the perfect position to consider the lives and traditions revolving around this classic structure.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
mikes review,
This review is from: Yin Yu Tang: The Architecture and Daily Life of a Chinese House (Hardcover)
I liked the book immensely, the only fault I could find was I wished there were more photographs of the courtyard and lattice work. Also the detail drawings of the joinery were too tiny, they would have been better larger.
5.0 out of 5 stars
highly recomended!,
By The Mad Hatter "M.H." (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Yin Yu Tang: The Architecture and Daily Life of a Chinese House (Hardcover)
Nancy Berliner's book on the Yin Yu Tang house shows exceptional scholarship on the subject at hand, it showed the house in detail and allows one to fully experience what a traditional chinese house is all about. this is a wonderful book and i highly recommend it
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Huizhou is the traditional name, dating back to the Song dynasty (960-1279), of a prefecture in the southeastern corner of Anhui Province 223.7 miles (360 km) southwest of Shanghai. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
conceptual west, conceptual south, pure gold earrings, kerosene shop, seventh branch, fengshui master, outer lattice, sixth branch, county gazetteer, twentieth generation, brand biscuit, copper cents, inner shutters, civil examinations, ridge columns, wooden components, ancestral halls, ridge beam, lineage genealogy, ancestor portraits, scenic point, reign period, ink stick Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Yin Yu Tang, Huang Cun, Huang Zizhi, Huang Zhenxin, Huang Xiqi, Wang Yaozhen, Huang Zhenzhi, Huang Zixian, Madame Cheng, Huang Zhenduo, Hong Zhaodi, Cultural Revolution, Huang Shaoqing, Huang Xianying, Huang Keyuan, Huang Binggen, Huang Village, Huang Xilin, Huang Chuan, Huang Clan Primary School, Huang Cui'e, Republic of China, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Huang Wan, Shexian County New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Huizhou is the traditional name, dating back to the Song dynasty (960-1279), of a prefecture in the southeastern corner of Anhui Province 223.7 miles (360 km) southwest of Shanghai. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
conceptual west, conceptual south, pure gold earrings, kerosene shop, seventh branch, fengshui master, outer lattice, sixth branch, county gazetteer, twentieth generation, brand biscuit, copper cents, inner shutters, civil examinations, ridge columns, wooden components, ancestral halls, ridge beam, lineage genealogy, ancestor portraits, scenic point, reign period, ink stick Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Yin Yu Tang, Huang Cun, Huang Zizhi, Huang Zhenxin, Huang Xiqi, Wang Yaozhen, Huang Zhenzhi, Huang Zixian, Madame Cheng, Huang Zhenduo, Hong Zhaodi, Cultural Revolution, Huang Shaoqing, Huang Xianying, Huang Keyuan, Huang Binggen, Huang Village, Huang Xilin, Huang Chuan, Huang Clan Primary School, Huang Cui'e, Republic of China, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Huang Wan, Shexian County New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 18
books:
See all 18 books this book cites
- Chinese Traditional Architecture (Chinese Institute) by Nancy S. Steinhardt in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Chinese New Year (Holidays, Festivals, & Celebrations) by Ann Heinrichs on page 82, and page 151
- Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China by Craig Clunas in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine by Jasper Becker in Back Matter
See all 18 books this book cites
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