A Comparative Study On The Vernacular Architectural Culture Of Guangdong Overseas Chinese Hometown Of Modern Times

The vernacular architectural culture of Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown of modern times is the essential content of the traditional vernacular culture of Guangdong and even the important part of the traditional Chinese architectural culture and the overseas Chinese hometown architectural culture in modern China,vividly displaying the evolutional prospect of the architectural culture of overseas Chinese hometown under the social condition of the spectacular “overall disputes between Chinese and Western culture” in modern China.Remittances,vernacular architecture of overseas Chinese hometown and the relatives of nationals living abroad are the basic conditions to form the overseas Chinese hometown,and also the principal factors for the formation of the vernacular culture in the overseas Chinese hometown.Referring to the relative researches of the Cultural Geography,the paper takes the Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown vernacular culture of modern times as the study subject,dividing it into Khanfou overseas Chinese hometown cultural region,Chaoshan overseas Chinese hometown cultural region and Hakka overseas Chinese hometown cultural region.Accordingly the comparative study is developed.Based on the theoretical basis of Architectural History and Architectural Aesthetics,the paper draws on the achievement and methods of Humanities and social science disciplines such as sociology,anthropology,etc.for reference,obtains the source materials and cases through field survey,and adopts the cross and integrated theoretical research methods for creating its research framework.Not only will the paper finally reveal the pluralism and richness of Guangdong vernacular architectural culture of modern times shaped by its unique remittance economy,social structure and humanistic dispositions,but also explore the complex and volatile relationship between the vernacular architectural culture as well as its activities and the factors such as economic,social and humanistic motivation.Firstly,as the main economic source of the vast number of overseas Chinese families,remittances fundamentally change the production and lifestyle of their hometown,further transforming the construction and developing advancement of Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown of modern times.The flow of remittances of Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown of modern times represents the distribution of overseas Chinese settlements.Corresponding to its exchange network,the flow of remittances manifests the distributional characteristics of being close to the traffic lines,the ports and towns.Comparatively speaking,Khanfou overseas Chinese hometown has formed the concentrated distribution of village-town clusters with highly integrated market-town--rural communities owing to its commercial ties;Chaoshan overseas Chinese hometown has generated the massive settlement clusters because of the expansion of its traditional villages;while Hakka overseas Chinese settlements distribute the region to be dispersive due to the topographical constraints.In the temporal dimension,the construction of vernacular architecture in Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown and settlements has gone through the following three development stages in general: the appearing and developing phase,the phase of flourishing and boom,as well as the low and declining phase.At the same time,the Khanfou,Chaoshan and Hakka overseas Chinese hometowns exhibit different level in various stages of construction scale and development due to their regional variance in economic condition.In terms of specific fund utilization of remittance and the vernacular building patterns,Chaoshan and Hakka hometowns of overseas Chinese play a very prominent role in the sole proprietorship constructional mode based on the individual or family as a vital unit,while the predominant constructive way of achieving the settlement development in Khanfou region is in alliance with the personal funds and adopting the joint-venture building mode to realize the partnership operation.Secondly,the great social transformation of Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown in modern times inevitably leads to the changing of living requirements,which promotes the evolution of the vernacular spatial function and its distribution patterns.Analyzing from the aspect of the social relation network,the expansion of the multiple social network of overseas Chinese hometown leads to the increasing complexity of the settlement spatial structure,which displays that various new types of architecture become the spatial nodes in the inner and outer of the settlements,making the shift of the focus of life and the settlement spatial patterns.Meanwhile,from the dimension of the social structural hierarchy,the social structure of Patriarchal Clans in the overseas Chinese hometown villages accelerates separation,so the spatial pattern and function of the vernacular architecture evolves along with it.The neighborhood block-street-styled pattern has been formed in Khanfou overseas Chinese hometown;Chaoshan overseas Chinese hometown develops from its traditional single pattern to the multi-dimensional developing one;and Hakka overseas Chinese settlement exhibits the accelerated phenomenon of separating residence,which generally continues the clan relationship but locally shapes the settlement pattern.Furthermore,analyzing from the aspect of the social structural elements of the Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown of modern times,the variation of the style,structure and social function of the overseas Chinese family causes the evolution of the residential function but performs and features differently in the three regions.Thirdly,there experiences intense contact,collision,communication and integration between the traditional native culture of overseas Chinese hometown and the foreign culture,through the phases of which the unique culture of overseas Chinese hometown is produced,advancing the vernacular architectural morphology evolution and creating the diverse aesthetic cultural dispositions of the vernacular architecture in overseas Chinese hometown.Influenced by the architectural culture of the current residence of the overseas Chinese,the vernacular architectural culture of Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown shows the tendency of convergent evolution in the following aspects like the innovation and improvement of the material technology,the interpretation and application of the architectural symbols,the gradual developing of the spatial pattern and the integration of the Chinese and foreign ornamental language,etc.The divergence of the level and degree of the communions between Chinese and foreign culture in different regions causes the different ways in the vernacular morphological evolution in Khanfou,Chaoshan and Hakka areas,that is,Khanfou hometown of overseas Chinese achieves the essentially innovative integration through its “combined system”,while Chaoshan realizes its integrated limited fusion by the “absorbing style” depending on the native culture to absorb the external culture;as well as Hakka's “embedded style” focuses on the tentative reference and integration of the outer architectural language.The diversity of the overseas Chinese cultural spirits shapes the abundant aesthetic cultural characteristics of the Guangdong overseas Chinese hometown of modern times.The secularization,commercialization and personalization are the main features of the vernacular architecture in the region of Khanfou clan contributing to its spirit of openness.Comparatively,under the dual personality of Chaoshan clan,vernacular architecture also mainly exhibits the dual features,such as absorbing the external advantages openheartedly corresponding to the preference of vintage-style and retro-aesthetic,respecting for Confucianism and advocating ritual corresponding to being mercantile and flaunting wealth,being magnificent narrative corresponding to being excelsior.At the same time,vernacular architecture of Hakka overseas Chinese hometown performs the following characteristics,such as original country retreat,clan worship,glorifying and illuminating their ancestors,sharing achievements and descending possessions for their future generations,having the sense of advancing and retreating at appropriate moment,as well as being innovative.