Daily Life in China                  

Shang Family Complex:

Below is the Shang family home near Tongshan, Hebei (south east of Hubei). This complex still has many family members still living within the complex. Slowly the younger generation is moving out to cities or building homes next to this structure (shown below). This complex is a classic example of this type of building and in use.  Thirty years ago there were 200 family members living here.  Today there are about 30.

Front view of the Shang complex. This building is about two hundred years old.  It once had a whit coat of cement.

A backed off view to show the newer buildings family members have moved into. The perspective is a little off.  The complex in back is almost as high as the newer buildings in front.

A side view of the Shang compound showing where the family members have gone. The complex roofs are just barely visible in the background. Most of the current complex is intact but over the next several years will slowly be dismantled and the bricks used in new construction. There are quite a few elders still living within the complex who like the old building. 

Secondary front entrance door.

The characters are usually some noble phrase in old Chinese put there by a local calligrapher.  Most people can't read these sayings easily.  I give them to my students who work on them and come back with and answer.

The primary entrance door always enters into the citang area (altar at the back).  The citang area is a multifunction area like a small New England commons.  At times it's a storage area for tools, food or crops.  If there is a major family function it will be held here i.e. marriage, death or spring festival ceremonies. The citang area always has a tianjing.  There are family rooms to the sides citang usually reserved for top family elders.

The Shang complex is not top of the line but a very nice complex in its day.  The decorations, materials used and quality of workmanship in this complex is excellent. The complex is about 200 years old.

The windows to the right and left are for apartments.  There are also apartment doors to the forefront.  Just for added emphasis, at the back is the family alter (citang).  The wet area is the main courtyard (tianjing) for the whole complex. 

Looking back out the main complex door.  The right and left apartments along with the next to the citang are for family elders.

Looking back to the primary front door of the complex.  Notice the smoke to the left and wall buildup.  Inside is the kitchen area and there are no chimneys in these complexes. All windows and walls around kitchen windows are smudged from years of cooking.  Nice decorative overhead porch.  It's a crop drying area at times and at others a place for a body to lay in state before the burial cerimony.

Two following photos on different days.

The citang area doubles as a storage area.  To the right is a rice threshing box used in the field.  At the bottom right is a hand grinding mill for grain.

The machine is a winnower for various grains.  Grain goes in the top.  The chaff gets blown out of the device by a hand cranked wind generator.  The grain falls to baskets placed underneath.

The Shang citang altar.  The figure with the sword represents the top ancestor and protector of the family. The joss sticks are lit each morning (depending on family custom) by the women of the family. The tablet in back once had family member names but has gotten wet over the years.  It's common that as over a century or two rain gets through the roofs and damages citang tablets.

The next two pictures are from a different family complex but standard.  One of the family members has recently died so an offering position laid out for him in the citang. 

The table has offerings of food, incense and I believe a paiwei for him. The yellow package is money offering is common in most Chinese ceremonies. Money is made from bamboo pulp and cotton. 

The entrance picture shows the main entrance tianjing but here are many others scattered throughout the complex.  The following picture shows views of several tianjing.

A couple of family grandmothers and other women from the complex sitting around the tianjing.  The tianjing is lighted by an above sky well formed overhead by four roofs coming together.  The roofs all slant toward the tianjing which provides water.  The tianjing is a warm and friendly area and in use most of the day in various household activities not the least of which is chatting or playing mahjong.  

The water spigot is a recent addition. Internal water supplies are still not available in most complexes or most houses in China.  Several families will used this spigot.

This is looking from the citang back to the front door.  This is a key location and the apartment shown would be for an important elder for the family.  Everyone in these pictures is a Shang.

Corner apartment off the main entrance with nice decorations.

Internal tianjing deeper into the complex.

Another tianjing area.  The lady is sorting out some chaff form grain.

This is a very small tianjing. It was probably used for family bathing.  There are the main tianjing then many of these smaller tianjing just opposite family apartment doors.  When you walk in the main building corridors (shown below) you go from big tianjing to big tianjing and bypass many smaller tianjing as you go by apartments. 

A small tianjing and very unusual because it has water.

A lady preparing a meal at her tianjing area.

She kept telling me over and over the food was for the pigs but she's chopping up fresh potatoes. ??

Apartment door and tianjing area.

A sky well.  Most complexes are three buildings deep.  That is three long buildings built very close.  They are joined with overhead roofs running from building to building forming sky wells for each water area.  I think there were 6 full size tianjing per long building and about 4 small personal tianjing so about 22 inside the complex.

The two round stones are grinding stones.  The top one has a hole for grain and the stone turned by the hand grip to the back.  The ground grain comes out all around the mid section.

Internal hallway looks onto apartment doors and windows on and tianjing.  In this picture there are four full tianjing.  There are three buildings per complex so three long hallways per complex.  There are usually other buildings built close by sometimes within a meter forming a much larger compound.

This is hallway opposite the above picture.  The buildings are connected with overhead roofs so there are 3-6 front to back hallways also in a complex.  

To the right someone was cooking lunch.  The complex is not two stories.  It's one and a half.  The top story is used for storage.

Hallway to the back of the complex.  Not all of the complex is in the same conditions.  Some families may have left to another building nearby.  The roof repairs do not get done and over time the building deteriorates. Sometimes the brick from a section will be used to make another home. Most of these old complexes are being torn apart and the brick used in newer construction.

One of the doorways is a back section of the complex.

Spare caskets just in case.

The following pictures are of various kitchen/cooking area throughout the complex.

Boy preparing feed for the swine.

This stove is very old and a standard found in many older homes.  This type is very common in the old complex buildings.  Every complex will have many of them.

Standard form of stove for a complex.

Man preparing stove fuel for lunch.

This stove is a recent addition. The shape is unusual for an old stove and the cement obviously 5 to 10 years old.  There is also a stove pipe which is very rare (the first I've seen in a complex).

Smoke normally goes out of the roof, between tiles.

Four shots of one of the elders preparing lunch.

Bamboo pole supporting a kettle over a fire.

Some of the younger women of the family having lunch.  They invited me have lunch with them as did about 5 other people that afternoon. 

Typical pantry/kitchen counter.  There are no sinks in kitchens in any of these complexes or for that matter in any of the older housed in China.  Sinks in complexes are the tianjing.  In older single home the outdoors is the sink area - generally at a brook, pond side or hand pump.  Most people in China still have not running water and carry water in pails from close by sources.

This hand pump is just beside the main entrance door and in use most of the day.  

These rascals are making baijiu, which is a grain alcohol make from rice.  He's stiring the mix which is just about done.

He has a scoop and taking out the rice to put in the basket at the side.  The rice will be eaten later.

Bedroom.