kenting - fujian architectural stylings at kenting youth activity center

Fujian Province (Chinese: 福建省 )

Interpreting text: Why did the late Ming and early Qing dynasties continue to enforce a sea trade ban? _____________________________________

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A short history of the Fujian Province The Tang Dynasty (618–907) oversaw the next golden age of China. As the Tang Dynasty ended, China was torn apart in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. During this time, a second major wave of immigration arrived in the safe haven of Fujian, led by general Wang, who set up an independent Kingdom of Min with its capital in Fuzhou. After the death of the founding king, however, the kingdom suffered from internal strife, and was soon swallowed up by Southern Tang, another southern kingdom. Quanzhou was blooming into a seaport under the reign of the Min Kingdom, and may have been the largest seaport in the Eastern hemisphere. In the early Ming Dynasty, Quanzhou was the staging area and supply depot of Zheng He's naval expeditions. Further development was severely hampered by the sea trade ban of the Ming Dynasty, and the area was superseded by nearby ports of Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai despite the lifting of the ban in 1550. Large scale piracy by Wokou (Japanese pirates) was eventually wiped out by Chinese military and Japanese authority of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Late Ming and early Qing Dynasty symbolized an era of large influx of refugees and another 20 years of sea trade ban under the Kangxi Emperor, a measure intended to counter the refuge Ming government of Koxinga in Taiwan. Incoming refugees, however, did not translate into a major labor force owing to their re-migration into prosperous regions of Guangdong province. In 1689, the Qing dynasty officially incorporated Taiwan into Fujian province. Settlement of Taiwan by Han Chinese followed, and the

Ancient Fujian Architectural

style abounds at the Kenting Youth Activity

Center

Focus on vocabulary: Strife: conflict or struggle, Depot: a place where large amounts of goods are stored, Hampered: some-

thing has made it difficult to accomplish what you have wanted to do, Supersede: to replace; to cause to be set aside

because of superiority, Influx: A flowing in, Refugee: person who flees their country to avoid persecution or disaster

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majority of people in Taiwan are descendants of emigrants from Southern Fujian. After Taiwan was separated into its own province in 1885 and ceded to Japan in 1895, Fujian arrived at its present extent.

Making a connection: The architectural style of the Kenting Youth Activity Center is one example of a cultural characteristic that has been brought from China to Taiwan. Can you think of three cultural characteristics that immigrants bring with them when they move from one place to another? __________________________________________

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What do we call the spreading of cultural characteristics due to shifting populations?

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Take a few moments and wander

around and explore the architecture,

the colors, and the atmosphere of this

place. Find something that you find

uniquely beautiful about this place and

either take a picture, make a drawing,

or some other creative work to capture

this beauty. You will be writing about

the item that you select in class on

Monday the 16th so choose wisely and

take a moment to think about why you

are choosing what your are choosing.

The architecture of Kenting’s Youth Activity Center resembles traditional styles of houses in southern Fujian Province. The signature detail of this architectural design is the look of the ridge and roofline. Write the name of the type of ridge under each picture below.

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1.) Which style of ridge would wealthy people or temples more likely to have? Why? _________________________________________________

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2.) How many types of “horseback” ridges are there?

What elements do the different types represent? _________________________________________________

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3.) What are the names of the three different styles of

buildings here? Who could own each kind?

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