kaiping

ĺťşç­‘ architecture

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Kaiping, which is located in Guangdong province, south China, has been widely recognized because of the large quantity of well-preserved historical civil architectures that could be dated back to the beginning of the 20th century.

位于中国广东的开平， 因保存众多上世纪初的民用古建筑而闻名于世。 探索它的起源之旅就此展开…… 摄影 由宓 / photos by Umi 014

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由宓 / Umi

重构开平的遗产与回忆 Recreate the legacy and memory of Kaiping 回忆是静止不动的，而且因为被空间化而更加坚固。 没有什么比徜徉在广东开平，形式各异的碉楼及民庐从 空间各个角度映入眼帘，更让人失去判断身在时间几何断面 的了。开平连同它怀抱的物质遗产，以及萦绕其中的历史人 文点滴，使一种历史文化哲学分析成为可能，这本身关乎审 慎和梦想——必须并存才能声称对遗产的继承权。（2007年 “开平碉楼与村落”被列入世界文化遗产名录，广东省唯一 的世界文化遗产。） 开平碉楼现存一千八百多座，分布在十八个镇，据记载 最早出现在明末清初，现在保留下来的多为清末民初建造 的。这以鸦片战争后出现大规模海外移民，因而有大量侨汇 流入为基础，也由于村镇治安恶化而需防卫土匪，另外有防 洪的实际需要等，开平各村镇内或集资共建，或个人出资， 出现了数量众多，风格各异的碉楼。 开平碉楼因地取材，山区多用石材，丘陵平原地区多采 用钢筋混凝土或夯土，在坚实、紧致、封闭的几层之上，碉 楼的上部复杂多样，有以柱廊，平台，城堡楼体为顶，也多 有混合元素出现，给建筑增加了浓郁的西式造型风格。装饰 细部又多见传统中式图案，尤其沿袭了匾额命名文化。顶层 四角常见“燕子窝”，一种类似欧洲城堡的悬空防御装置。 透过那些条状或T字形的射击孔，当年躲在楼里的男丁击退匪 徒。 借鉴中西，以独有的逻辑表现出来，这种自觉正是早期 文化移置的成果。据开平研究者调查，碉楼的设计有三种类 型，即聘请国外设计师、内地建筑师设计，及本地泥水匠创 作。前者自海外寄来设计图，为规范西式结构造型奠定基 处；而在本地完成的设计里，不无侨眷参考外国建筑画报、 照片、明信片而主动提出设想的例子。鲜活的想像力使我们 既脱离了过去，亦超越了现在。它面向未来。 在我们对曾经得到过庇护的所有家宅的回忆中，在我们 曾梦想居住的所有家宅那里，我们是否能够得出一个属于内 心并且具体的本质，来证明所有受到保护的内心空间形象所 具有的独特价值？躲进碉楼，经过几道机械运作，坚实的铁 闸门、铁窗维护了碉楼整体的力量。可以想像在那个年代， 这个过程较收起吊桥或关闭厚厚的大红门得来的全无诗意， 却是给小脚的太太和孩子们最稳妥的保障。而那些射击孔， 听起来耸人听闻——封闭的碉楼通过这在看，在注视着我 们。对羁旅者，对被男人背着回家猛然抬头的小女孩，这是

M

emory is static and destined to being intertwined with space, it becomes ever more petrified.

There is nothing that gives you more of a sense of eternity than loitering in Kaiping, Guangdong. There, varied Diaolous (stone houses) and cottages come to your sight from all dimensions.

Kaiping with its physical legacy, cultural leftovers make possible philosophical analysis from the perspectives of history and culture.

The analysis per se is about prudence and imagination. And the claim for inheriting legacies demands nothing less. (Kaiping Diaolous and villages became part of World Cultural Heritage collection in 2007. It is the only World Culture Heritage in Guangdong Province.

There are now over 1,800 Diaolous scattered in 18 townships, Kaiping. The earliest one, as recorded, appeared in early Qing Dynasty and late Ming Dynasty. Most of these existing ones were built in the early Republic of China and the late Qing Dynasty.

There were different reasons. Influxes of expatriates after the Opiate War, defense against invading bandits or flood prevention… They were built with collective or individual funds. With these funds came myriad distinctive Diaolous.

Kaiping Diaolous wase built with readily available materials. In mountainous areas, stones and timbers were used. In areas full of hills and plains, reinforced concrete or crammed earth were used.

The levels leading to the top are compact and enclosed. The top is either in the form of colonnades, platforms and castles or mixed elements which give the buildings a tint of Western style. The decorations feature traditional Chinese designs and named plaques.

The four corners of the top are frequently equipped with swallows’ nests, like suspending defense installations in European castles. The strip- or T-shaped shooting holes were where males in the villages hid to repel invading bandits.

The awareness of mixing Western and Oriental styles into a unique style represents the result of early cultural exchanges. According to a survey conducted by researchers in Kaiping, Diaolou was designed by invited foreign designers, domestic construction designers or local masons. By inviting foreign designers, it means that blueprints were mailed from abroad to lay a foundation for a Western-style structure. When local design was involved, expatriates would consult foreign construction pictorials, photos and postcards and volunteer their own designs. The fresh imagination would let us go beyond the past and the present. It is something that is geared towards the future.

There are houses where we may remember we were protected and those where we would dream of living. But can we come up with the nature of these buildings, a nature that belongs to the heart, so as to

上图：现存古建筑的细部装饰 对页：小巷 Above: The detailed decorations of the existing historical architectures Opposite: Narrow lane

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上图：古建筑的环境 对页上：古建筑群落 对页下：中西风格冲突的室内 Above: Historical architectures and surrounding opposite above: Cluster of historical architectures opposite Bottom: Interior with the contrasting Chinese and western styles

远远的视野中家宅的特质。

县，《开平县志》修纂了七次，这是关于风物人情的官方记

恋，还有对无限天空的畅想，孩子——尤其是孩子，怎么在

载，族谱是各家族的官方记载，当时的报刊组成编年史，散

将来异土的家中回味并企图重建这种直接的幸福感，这回忆

落民间的陈年家书是生活鲜活的证物，五邑大学的研究员进

与无法忆起之物的结合？怎么借助往昔促成未来，摸索到推

行了详细的考证，然而还有很多只属于建造事实的心灵——

动着家族历史中永不完结之物的意识？

正像那主人离去，门窗紧闭，在十年浩劫时也无法被打开的

这试问的得来一方面因为房子的主人及其后代移居国

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要，陈设隐去的故事和讲述的故事同样重要。自1649年立

为此可以探索所有在碉楼里产生的梦想：对力量的依

铭石楼。

外，这在侨乡开平是常事，最终把房子交与政府管理。房里

然而，新近的陈列品——在某种意义上更加神秘，给无

的陈设如旧，我们可以看到木制的炊事厨具，成套银餐具，

意闯入此家族历史脉络的旁观者任何填补历史的企图增加难

西式的抽水机，和置于机要调节风水的镜子，我们当然也看

度，或者说历史打开了一种动态的、当下的局面。族谱确定

到有次序摆放的房主和家眷照片，通常伴有族谱，而新近的

了一种填补的方式——在时间中找出回忆的位置，这种历史

陈列包括分布世界各地家族后裔的生活照。

是用于外在用途的。比传记深刻的解释学应该把历史从对我

收集凭证和叙述并将其陈列在自己面前就是再生，但种

们命运的无作用的并且相连时间结构中解放出来，从而确定

种再生都有内在的动机。陈设之于历史与碉楼本身同样重

命运的中心。对于认识内心空间来说，比确定日期更紧要的

show the unique value of these buildings? To hide in a Diaolou, people would have to go through several mechanical and solid iron gates and iron windows. These arrangements constitute the power of the entire building. It is fair to imagine that at that era, the whole process of putting away the hanging bridge or closing the thick red doors does not sound even remotely poetic, but guarantees the safety of foot-bound elder women and children. And those shooting holes sound horrific. And they are watching us through the enclosed Diaolous. For travelers and little girls on the backs of men who suddenly look up, this is what is unique about their houses afar.

Hence a question arises out of the exploration of all these buildings: will children, for all their attachment to power and imagination to unlimited skies, revisit this sense of happiness in their foreign houses and connect their memories to things which cannot be recollected? How can they build the future by remembering the past and seek eternity running through their family histories?

This question comes partly due to the emigration of the house

owners and their offspring to foreign countries. Emigration was common in Kaiping, home to expatriates. When people emigrated, they placed their homes under government management. Now their house settings remain intact. There are wooden cooking utensils, complete sets of silver cutlery, western-style water pumps, and hidden feng shui mirrors. There are also orderly sequenced photos of homeowners and families, often juxtaposed with family trees. New displays include live photos of the descendants around the world.

The collection and exhibition of legacy and stories is called regeneration. There is an internal motive behind every regeneration.

The exhibition of history is equally important as Diaolou itself; so are the behind-the-scene stories. Since the founding of this county in 1649, Kaiping County Records, an official record of local conditions, has been revised seven times. Researchers in Wuyi University have done thorough research on genealogy - the official record of families, chronicles composed of then newspapers and 014

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为我们的内心空间确定位置。能不能说是一种对家原初的依 恋呢？ 想像，在广东南部经日闷热潮湿，暴雨骤来的夏天，一 个缩在屋子角落的小女孩，还没到上学校的年龄，已经有了 要温习的幼学课程。 波德莱尔说，在一座宫殿里“没有属于 内心的角落”，然而在某些瞬间，角落变成了避难所，是小 女孩的稳定性的确定所在，邻近所在。她体会这一切，并通 过外部世界中存在的消减，体会到内心空间中所有价值的加 强。她想到一百年前在一个同她一样躲在屋子角落里的孩 子，那时人们还相信夏秋之交的飓风，或云飓母，是能鼓风 的海中之怪。她梦想楼上某间屋子里挂着的大人穿的锦缎礼 服，若干年后她身着礼服的照片却通过越洋信件而回到这间 屋子。 碉楼和民庐给居住者提供简单明确的结构。像螺一样旋 转而上的楼梯，引出相同的平面叠加，而不同楼层被不同而 丰沛的生活内容填充，形成垂直方向的级系，成为垂直的存 在，自我提升。 无论是少到三层，多至九层，楼梯两端确是梦想者关注 的地方。其下端，一个无法利用的斜顶区域，存放些什么东 西，或者像泮立楼的一层那样，封隔起来，再上锁？其上 端，预示着通向最安静的孤独的上升——家族祖堂的位置， 首层置祭桌、摆香炉 , 有的在墙上挂有楼主或先人的大幅照片 或画像 , 供后人拜祭及瞻仰，十几排祖先排位道出家族的变 迁。但也不乏精神火花绽放：马降龙庆临里林庐神龛上方有 飞鹰与蛇的形象，缘由楼主早年在墨西哥谋生，听说墨西哥 人对先族阿兹特克神话的崇拜，而在国徽上采用了飞鹰与 蛇。为了纪念发家之地，楼主在祭祖的神圣之地纳入了中国 传统不为可能的飞鹰与蛇的形象。碉楼在垂直方向仅一步之 遥便从有限走向无限。 历史坐落在被此时此刻的存在所充满的时间里。在罗伯 斯庇尔（Robespierre）看来，罗马城是一个被现在时间所充满 的过去。在开平尚未被外来物侵占的碉楼里，过去一个世纪 人和事的气韵仍在，吸引我们去探寻去想象，似乎我们在这 里可以把握在紧要关头闪现出来的记忆，而这些尚未被视为 与当下休戚相关的过去的意象都有永远消失的危险。 而这紧要的记忆也许能帮助我们回答遗产如何被传下去 的问题。

journals, and copies of scattered family letters. But there are things that only belong to the heart, like the abandoned and windowclosed mingshilou (Memorable Stone Towers) that could not be opened during the decade-long calamity.

However, new exhibits are more mysterious in a sense. They make it more difficult for unintentional observers to fill up the void of family history. In other words, history creates a dynamic scene at the present moment. Genealogy lends a helping hand by locating memory in time. But such history is just for external purposes only. Interpretation, more profound than biography, shall liberate history from intertwined time structures that have no role in shaping our destiny, so as to determine the center of destiny. To understand the inner heart, however, locating the inner heart is more important than determining a date. Is it the original attachment to home?

Imagine: one hot, humid and storm-bound summer day in South Guangdong, there is a little girl cornered in a house; she has not reached schooling age but already has her own courses to review.

Charles Pierre Baudelaire said: there is not a corner in a palace that belongs to the heart. But all of a sudden, the corner turns into a shelter, which is close to the serene girl. She feels all this. And through the rise and fall of the external world, she feels the rising power of her inner heart. She may think of a kid like herself one hundred years earlier when hurricanes were believed to be wind-blowing sea monsters. The kid may dream of wearing those beautiful dresses in the wardrobe upstairs, and many years later, the photos of her in elegant dresses would return to this house via overseas mail.

Diaolou and cottage houses provide habitats with simple and clearly defined structures. Like spiraling stairs that produce identical overlapping planes, different storys, teeming with varied but full life, produce vertical “scales” that symbolize self-enhancement.

For most buildings, three-story and nine-story ones alike, the two ends of stairs are where dreamers care the most. The bottom, an unusable slant area, is used to store things or closed and locked like the ground floor of the Panli Building? The top indicates the most quiet and lonely place, family ancestral halls. The ground floor is equipped with home offering tables and incense burners. Some even put photos or portraits of building owners or ancestors on the wall so that future generations may worship and pay respect. Several rows of ancestors’ memorial tablets show the changes of families.

Some symbols recall cultural exchanges. Eagle and snake images were seen above the Qinglinli Linlu Shrine, Maxianglong. It turned out that the building owner made a living in Mexico in his early days and knew of eagles and snakes inscribed by Mexicans on their national emblem due to their worship of Aztec myths. To commemorate the place where he made a fortune, the owner incorporated into the shrine the images of eagles and snakes, something considered jarring in Chinese tradition. Vertical Diaolou is just one step away from limitedness to eternity.

History rests upon ever present time. To Robespierre, Rome was a past filled with present moments. In these Diaolous which were never occupied, the spirit of people and things of the past century remains.

They cause us to explore and imagine. It is as if we could hold in our hands memories that flash across critical junctures. But the images that are deemed unconnected with the past run the risk of extinction.

But these important memories may help us answer the question of how legacy can be carried forward.

本页：现存的古建筑 对页上：古建筑上的现代印迹 对页下：古建筑顶部 Above: Existing historical architectures Opposite above: Contemporary marks left on the wall of historical architecture Opposite bottom: Roof-top of historical architecture

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