Found On The Net: An Old Chinese House In Museum

Betty says,

"After the postings of Locke appeared, I received quite a few comments and questions both in the comments section of this blog and by e-mail.

Chris O. of MA sent me information about an old Chinese house that was moved from China to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA that may be of interest. Here is a picture and some of facts about this project taken from the museum website:

'Yin Yu Tang was formerly located in the small rural village of Huang Cun, in the hills of Xiuning County in the Huizhou region of Anhui Province. Huang Cun is approximately 250 miles southwest of Shanghai.

Though the exact date of its construction has not yet been determined, it appears that the house was built by the 28th or 29th generation of the family at the turn of the 18th century. Since the present living family members are of the 34th through the 36th generation, the house was probably built 175 to 200 years ago.

On a trip to China in 1996, Nancy Berliner, an independent scholar of Chinese art and now Curator of Chinese Art and Culture at the Peabody Essex Museum, was visiting the village when she first saw Yin Yu Tang, which was unoccupied at the time. On an ensuing trip to China in the same year, she revisited the house. Coincidentally, family members were present, and on that day they had decided to put the house up for sale.

In May of 1997 an agreement was established: Yin Yu Tang would be transferred to the Peabody Essex Museum as part of a cultural exchange that would help protect and promote Huizhou architecture. Additional projects would be established in China to protect and conserve historic architecture in Huizhou.'

Details of Pictures and descriptions of the project are available on:

http://www.pem.org/sites/yinyutang/faqs.html

Set aside some time when you visit, it's very interesting.

By the way, on a personal note, I was born in Shanghai, 250 miles from the original location of this house."