| Description |
My thesis compares the theoretical ideas of authenticity through two forms of rural Chinese vernacular architecture, Yin Yu Tang in Salem, MA, U.S.A. and the Linden Centre in Xizhou, Yunnan Province, China. Yin Yu Tang is a house originally built in the Huizhou Region in Southeast China around 1800 and then eventually moved to the Peabody Essex Museum in New England. The Linden Centre, formerly known as Yang's Compound, was built in 1947 and did not experience physical recontextualization but was transformed into a boutique hotel operated by an American. Through art historical analysis that is informed by the social sciences, museum studies, and tourism studies, I argue that Yin Yu Tang and the Linden Centre are examples of vernacular architecture that use recontextualization to cultivate an authenticity found within the framework of display. The structures share similar histories of transformation and provide the contemporary visitor a chance to escape from reality to experience the past, the foreign, and the endangered. However, they also provide insight into the tendencies of preservation efforts as well as the future of preservation that must increasingly consider the intersections of space, time, and display. Through a consideration of Yin Yu Tang and the Linden Centre's past, present, and future, my thesis closely examines conceptual identifiers such as placemaking through intangible culture, frameworks of display, the processes of authentication, and the creation of tradition. Ultimately, I argue that the iv long-term approach to heritage preservation is multifaceted and reveals the idealistic illusion of authenticity that has the potential to initiate radical transformations. |
