Home Beyond the House

Wei (Windy) Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the School of Design at Louisiana Tech University. Zhao received a PhD in architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Her research focuses on issues of social equity and sustainability, cultural identity and diversity, and the built environment of marginalized social groups in the context of globalization and climate change.

“The participatory and empowering method of asking residents to photograph their surroundings is exciting. This innovative method not only provides a visual and personal record of the environment and its significance to locals but also engages them actively in the process of documenting and reflecting on their own sense of place and identity. It is an approach that enriches the research with first-hand perspectives and also validates the residents’ experiences and connections to their habitat.”Geng Li, The China Quarterly (2024), 1–2.

• List of Figures. List of Tables. Acknowledgements. Glossary. Introduction. Chapter 1: Evolving Rural China. Chapter 2: The Village Underneath the Rock: The Cheng Family and the Vernacular Built Environment of Yanxia. Chapter 3: From a Local Deity to a World Heritage: Formation and Destruction of Vernacular Tradition. Chapter 4: From the Land: The Foundation of Rural China. Chapter 5: Rooted in the Past: Where Ancestors Lived. Chapter 6: Family as an Economic Entity: Divided Homes and Families. Chapter 7: Home without the House: Eternal Jiaxiang. Chapter 8: On Tradition. Chapter 9: Afterward. Epilogue. Index.