Qingdao, Li Yuan

My hometown is in Qingdao, this summer, I spent some time visiting the old architecture in my hometown and found they are a good representation of the culture of the old city.

Just like "Hu tong" in Beijing, "Nong tang" in Shanghai, " Li Yuan" is a kind of typical residential building in old Qingdao.

There are various kinds of formats. When viewed from a high angle, the shapes are like Chinese characters such as " Kou(口)","Ri（日）","Tian（田）","Hui（回）","Mu（目）" or polygons. There are generally 2 or 3 floors, and 4 or 5 floors if its larger. The room which abutting street is lager in size, it can be used to run a shop; the rooms upstairs are individual rooms used for living.



Above are pictures from the web.

The core of Li Yuan culture, is its harmonious interpersonal relationship, its gentleness of the civilian population,its co-operative style. The order of Li Yuan, is an expression of the persuation of modern lifestyle, and the simpleness, functionality,pureness of the agricultural civilisation at the same time.The harmony and copperation in such a enclosure enviroment is the most obvious symbolism of the Li Yuan culture.

Based on research on historical and cultural studies of Qingdao, its almost all names of people for naming the tens of Li Yuan in Xin Zhen, Qingdao. Generally they are names of the sponsors, their names changed after the change of ownership. This proved the power and function of capital in the Li Yuan culture.

Since the era of reform and opening-up, Qingdao has boomed into a new period time of development. Many of the unique Li Yuan have been demolished as the road widening and the rise of buildings, and at the same time, the unique lifestyle has disappeared. Now it is becoming very important to protect Li Yuan and its culture, and its even more important to protect a unique and localized memory of the city.