【视频】：穿斗式房屋建造 “活化—以中国土家族泛博物馆为例”任丛丛-EMG大石馆
“穿斗式”这个术语由中国最早的建筑史研究者之一-营造学社的刘致平前辈提出，用来描述一种木构建筑类型，其特点是每根立柱（不一定都落地）顶端都承托檩条，立柱之间由纵横的枋子连接成整体。穿斗式房屋在历史上出现极早，应用范围也极广。从现代结构的、工程的角度来看待研究穿斗式房屋，往往将其仅仅视为一种结构选型的结果。然而我们倡导用另外一种角度审视穿斗式房屋，将其看作是一种传统的技术系统下的产物，姑且称之为穿斗房屋营造技术系统。该技术系统中不仅包含了种种的建造技术，更有伴随着技术实施的巫术,以及建造者和房屋所有者围绕房屋建造和使用的种种信仰等。通过技术系统概念的引入，本研究尝试描述在建房活动中人与人、人与物的关系，意即自然与社会是如何被理解和组织的。
任丛丛博士通过对贵州、湖南、广西三省交界处少数民族聚居区的长期田野调查，得到了关于一栋典型穿斗式房屋建造过程的全景式的描述。在叙述中，将建造过程按照时间节奏与技术节点不同分为四个步骤，将其中工程技术与巫术实施的细节描述按时间顺序穿插在一起，这样的描述既最大限度接近真实的状态，也有助于揭示有用的技术（工程的、建筑的）与看似无用的技术（巫术的）是如何交织在一起的。
由此，任博士得出穿斗房屋营造技术系统的几个特点：
一、掌墨师父（下称墨师）职能高度的分化与其技术垄断。墨师不仅主持房屋建造的全部技术环节，其身份与巫师的部分重叠，给与他极高的话语权。墨师的身份获得来源于对鲁班信仰的认同，通常是亲属、师徒代代承袭，技术与巫术的双重习得（在实践中通常被秘密化编码）保证了他们的专业地位。
二、普遍的居住信仰。我们调研的少数民族地区在居住信仰方面已经比较汉化，风水信仰普及。墨师的鲁班教仪轨与风水先生的时辰演算是杂糅在一起的，就我们的调研看来，墨师主要掌管施工顺利与否霍州天气预报 ，风水师推算房屋凶吉（以各种动工时间来调解），两者调和并不冲突。关于信仰体系的研究还显不足，今后应予以补充。
三、材料利用的特点。建材多取当地山地生长杉木。穿斗式房屋不追求永久性（其结构的弱点也导致长期时候用后的严重变形），伴随着人口换代的房屋的更迭（房屋平均寿命50年左右）与森林的养护保持着和谐。另外，在山区窄小的地形下，采伐、运输和储存都对应着技术与仪式。穿斗式房屋立柱都用去皮的原木（有节约和圆形崇拜等的文化含义），天然不均匀的材料也导致榫卯加工时候技术的复杂性，这种复杂性也被编入到墨师独掌的营造技艺之中。
四、互助建房。在山区较为闭塞封闭的环境中，建房作为一种经济活动，高度依赖劳动力之间的交换，除了墨师及帮徒需要额外支付薪酬外，其他的劳力几本都采取以工换工的方式，这意味着，乡村中的每个劳动力几乎都要参与其他村民家的建造活动，也演化出种种仪式，同时，建房经验在民众中的普及使得建房过程更高效安全。
上述总结其实并没有太大突破我们目前的知识体系，一方面是因为这种建房传统事实上距离我们并不太遥远（虽然它有着悠久了历史），很多习俗甚至被吸纳到今天现代的居住文化中来，另一方面是我们当前的城市化进程还未结束，这样的技术系统同时存在在森林资源丰富的乡村。
任丛丛博士认为 研究它的意义不单是历史的总结，而是考虑其在工业化进程中适应变化的可能性。如果与其他地区的技术系统相比较，特别是完成工业化转型的其他住宅技术体系，比如日本的在来工法或者北美的轻质住宅体系，我们就能更加理解穿斗营造系统在当下的活力与局限之处，从而引发我们思考此种存在上千年、如此适应中国乡土环境的房屋建造体系的未来，沉寂于历史之中不是必然的路径。
On Technology and Ritual of Chuandou House Construction in Southwest China
The term chuandou was initially borrowed from the local carpenter vocabulary in Sichuan Province. The term was noted by Zhiping Liu (刘致平), who was a part of one of the first groups of Chinese architectural historians (营造学社) to investigate vernacular building types in Southwest China（Liu 1990）. Later, by the time Building types and structures in China (《中国建筑类型与结构》) was first published in 1957, chuandou had become an important timber structure term（Liu 1957）.
Chuandou houses are widely distributed in South China, located mainly to the south of the Qinling mountain range and the Huai River (秦岭、淮河以南). Some are found in the southern areas of Shanxi (陕西) (Zhang and Peng 2010) and Henan (河南) Provinces (Fan et al. 2009).
The construction of chuandou structures is still occurring in many places, with the most well-known place being the Dong people’s community located at the juncture of Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi Provinces. This area has attracted the attention of both domestic and foreign scholars. Zwerger (2012, p.269) summarised chuandou structures as ‘Vertical elements, posts or columns bearing purlins at their upper ends, play a visually dominant role. In its basic form, each purlin is born by a column standing on the ground. The columns are connected with one another by through-jointed beams to form a truss’. Only the interlocking of several beams with several columns assures that the parallelogram timber frames will be steady in chuandou houses.
In this study, we examined chuandou houses from the perspective of its construction process. We focused on the engineering technology that was and still is used by local carpenters and rituals they perform aside the construction. According to Pfaffenberger (1988, pp.236-252), technology is basically a social phenomenon—it is ‘Humanized Nature’. He termed the concept of the ‘technology system’. In this paper we tried to depict such ‘chuandou house building technology system’ in which technology and ritual is woven together. Also Ruitenbeek (1993) pointed out in his research regarding Luban Jing (鲁班经), ‘Yet from all available sources it appears that in the building field, technique, ritual and magic were linked closely from the beginning’.
1. CASE STUDY OF CHUANDOU HOUSES’ CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
The construction process of a chuandou house is recorded in the historical writings related to anthropological methods of ethnographic fieldwork. The time required to construct a chuandou house can vary from several months to years. We investigated and combined several field work materials to form an understanding of the construction process of a chuandou house, which is completed in four phases.
Our main field work took place in the Dong people settlement of Dali Village in Rongjiang County, Guizhou Province. We visited the settlement twice in July and November, 2016, and at the second visiting we were able to observe two assembly processes. The other field work for this study took place in Hunan, Guangxi and Sichuan Provinces (Table 1). The extent of the chuandou technology system covered all the four provinces mentioned above.
We got to know details in phase 1 and phase 2 mainly through interviews. For phase 3 and 4 we were able to witness the process at the construction site. We marked each sources used in the progress’ description, one can inquire its reference in Table 1.
Table 1 Field work area and time. (Source: the author)
1.1 Phase 1: Material Preparation (伐木备料)
As mentioned, it was found through field work that the construction of a chuandou house occurred in four phases. Phase 1 comprised log harvesting and preparations. Dali Village residents harvest trees from their own mountain lands for building purposes. This practice is also prevalent in other mountainous areas where Chinese firs grow in great quantities and people own their land. Logging is usually carried out at the end of spring, when the bark is easy to peel off. Prior to logging, a ritual is usually conducted to pacify the mountain spirits.
When harvested,戴景耀 peeled logs were transported to the village and stored to dry in the air, as shown in Figure 1. It takes at least six months for logs to be ready for use, which is why logging usually occurs in the spring. Thus, construction can begin in the winter.
Figure 1. Logs stored on the ground at a construction site, Dali Village珍妃化妆品 , 2016. (Source: the author)
1.2 Phase 2: Design and Processing of Timbers (设计下料)
According to the wishes of the homeowner and the limits of the site, the chief carpenter designed the timber frame of the home. The layout and fa?ade was designed in Phase 4. One section drawing (水卦图, shown in Figure 3, which is a 1:10 section) was included. This drawing expresses the chief carpenter’s design adequately. Later王晨霞手诊, all the vertical dimensions from the section drawing were transcribed in a 1:1 ratio on to a long pole (杖杆, shown in Figure 4) made of bamboo or timber. There were usually three bays in the longitudinal direction, and the middle bay was wider than the bays on either side. When all the component dimensions were decided, logs were processed according to the correct measurements.
The design process may seem rather simple, but it embodies the basic methodology of timber structure design. The design and construction process belongs to a profound technological tradition which has a long history and wide applications in China. According to Zhang (2010), its more sophisticated application and achievements are evident in Fujian Province (福建).
After the dimensions were decided摩根莉莉 , logs were ready to be cut into the necessary components. First, according to each log’s size, they were either rough planed for column material or split into planks for beam material. After the rough work had been done by either the home owners or helpers they had employed, the chief carpenter and his disciples processed timbers into their final components. Their professional work included the marking of ink lines on to each column as sketched out on the dimension pole (杖杆), the cutting of mortise holes to columns and the crafting of tenons on to the ends of the beam planks. The work in this phase always began with a grand ritual called Xinggongfamo (兴工发墨), which means to begin the ink work, conducted by the chief carpenter. The research team was unable to witness this ritual, but we did observe a rest-on-beam short column covered with an unusual number of horizontal ink lines, which was evidence that ritual had been performed (Figure 5).
Figure 2. Fengshui compass and notes, photo taken from fengshui master Shengan Long’s home, Dali Village, 2016 (Source: the author).
Figure 3. 1:10 Section drawing, photo taken from chief carpenter Yonghua Wu’s home, Guiliu village, Rongjiang County, 2017. (Source: the author)
Figure 4. Marking ink lines according to the dimension pole, Dali village, 2016. (Source: the author)
Figure 5. Short column marked with numerous ink lines, Dali Villiage, 2016.(Source: the author)
The most difficult and characteristic technology in this phase is to make joints. To cut holes in columns and process tenons on beams, Taoqian-Jiaoqian technology is needed. Taoqian-Jiaoqian (讨签-交签) is the technique used to survey the form of a mortise hole cut in a column using a stick and mark the dimensions on it (讨签). According to the marked stick, ink lines were drawn on the end of a beam plank, which would cross the same hole later (交签). It is a demanding job. For a typical dwelling, there are hundreds of holes to be surveyed and even more for public buildings, such as towers and bridges. Each stick represents one hole and a notation system was used to number sticks.
Why bother using this one-to-one survey method to make joints? Chuandou houses rely on tight joints to maintain their stability美津龙 , instead of using braces. In addition, the columns are made of natural peeled fir. These cylinder-like trunks are highly asymmetric. To make each tenon perfectly match the mortise to achieve the maximum friction force requires the development of this Taoqian-Jiaoqian skill. This technology allows people to maximize the use of natural material. The complexity of the technology makes chief carpenters’ work become crucial and irreplaceable, which reinforce the differentiation in profession in turn. We will get a better understanding of this characteristic of chuandou system if we compared it with other building system. For example, in southeast Asia (some district in Yunnan province included) and Japan, there are folk houses using square columns. The standardization of columns lead to the column-beam joints making also standardized. Thus no such complicated Taoqian-Jiaoqian technology needed.
On the construction site薛韵芳 , the chief carpenter is the only one who masters this skill. Disciples follow his ink lines and process the timbers. Apart from his ritual skills the mastery of this skill becomes the watershed moment that defines a chief carpenter from an ordinary carpenter.
Figure 6. The Taoqian-Jiaoqian technology. (Source: the author)
The techniques used to master the skill are usually kept secret in one carpentry genealogy. The chief carpenters we interviewed in our field work informed us that they each have their own way to number the sticks (Figure 8). Carpenters from other genealogies would find the writings of others hard to recognise.
The Taoqian-Jiaoqian technology requires both mental ability and physical skill. Figure 6 illustrates the decomposition movements of the mark-ink man’s hand. In reality, the whole process was done in just seconds. The chief carpenter placed a douchi (斗尺) and a stick across the column. Then, he used his finger nail to mark the position for the depths of the hole (both the higher and lower edges燕龙生态园 , so he must use both his thumb and his index finger). He then pulled the stick out, with the position of both fingers maintained and drew the marks with ink. The chief carpenter’s speed was directly related to the number of disciples and helpers he could work with at once. Only after he marked the ink lines on to the beams could wood processing begin. Chief carpenter Fengan Li we interviewed told us proudly that he could work with 11 helpers at one time.
Figure 7. Tools used for the mark-ink work (left). Douchi (right). (Source: the author)
Figure 8. Different kinds of measuring sticks. (Source: the author)
1.3 Phase 3: Assembling and Erecting the Structure (组装立架)
The rituals performed that are associated with the erection of the timber structure (立架) and the placement of the upper beam (上梁) are crucial to the homeowner’s happiness. The time these rituals are conducted were carefully chosen by a fengshui master. He calculated the best time for these rituals down to the hour of day. The two rituals were usually separated by 12 hours. For example, if the erection time was 2 am, then the beam would be placed at 2 pm in the same day.
Prior to the selected day, the chief carpenter arrived with his disciples. They assembled the components of the trusses and leaned them on temporary supports, waiting for the appropriate assembly time (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Trusses leaning on the supports, sketched by Ruchen Bian零点花园 , Dali Village. (Source: the author)
During the proper ritual time, people gathered from the village and relatives came from other villages and stayed for at least three days to finish the work as helpers. In the four Southwest provinces we investigated, the erection time occurred between midnight and dawn. The erection work for a two-story building usually required about 30 men, working simultaneously. When people were ready, the chief carpenter performed the Fachuishuzhu ritual (发槌竖柱, which means the erecting of columns), which consisted of a series of activities, including a dedication tribute to the gods, the chanting of spells while simultaneously writing them in the air and the cutting of a rooster’s throat and pouring its blood over the roots of each column. After the ritual was completed, people began to work together under the chief carpenter’s instructions ( Figure 10).
With 30 labourers, the work of erecting the trusses, connecting them with the beams and placing them in the right places was completed in a few hours. This work usually finished by the morning so that people still had time to go home and rest a bit before attending the Shangliang ritual (上梁) in the afternoon.
It is noteworthy that the ‘beam’(In some areas it is called ‘the precious beam (宝梁)’) used in Shangliang ritual is not the ridge beam which connected the middle two trusses in the end. The real structural ridge beam will be put upon ‘the precious beam’ (see Fig.13). In Dong people’s region the precious beam must be made of Ailanthus(香椿木). When the right time came, the chief carpenter began to perform the ritual. He first dedicated some tributes to the gods and blessed the ‘beam’ which was laid on two brackets on the ground. It was regarded as the tree of heaven and its selection and felling had to follow a certain rule. After the blessing, the chief carpenter took a pair of new shoes from the owner of the house and began to climb the structure using his bare hands while chanting spells. When he reached the top, two men needed to be waiting there. One had to be a cousin from the owner’s father’s family and the other a cousin from his mother’s family. These men pulled the ‘beam’ up while the chief carpenter threw candies to the crowd below (see Fig.12). This was the climax of the ritual.
Figure 10. Erecting the structure, sketched by Ruchen Bian, Dali Village. (Source: the author)
Figure 11. The beginning of Shangliang ritual. Dali Village, 2016. (Source: the author)
Figure 12. ‘The precious beam’ had been raised up to the ridge. Dali Village, 2016. (Source: the author)
Figure 13. ‘The precious beam’ is under a ridge beam. Zaidang Village, 2017. (Source: the author)
1.4 Phase 4: Completion (装修)
On the next day of the Shangliang ritual and the third day of the whole event, after a feast at noon, people went to their own mountain land to cut a Chinese fir as a gift for the home owner. It was quite an experience to hear the logging sounds emanating from all directions at once during that time.
The completion of the chuandou house included the work necessary to make all the walls, roofs and floors. Thus, a large quantity of wood was needed. Gifts of wood helped the home owner a great deal. The final carpentry required for the completion of the construction is an expertise different from that of the chief carpenter. There was no ritual or magic involved in the finish work. Usually, local carpenters are hired for this work because they do not need to be paid for their accommodation. Finishing work usually takes more than three months, depending on how many carpenters the home owner hires.
2. Chief carpenter in the community
In this chapter, we attempt to interpret the role of the Chief carpenters as the leader of carpenters and their relationship with other people involved in the construction activities to show how their professions are established.
Figure 11 shows the different groups of people involved in the construction, the rituals they perform and the steps in the construction process. The solid lines link the people with their jobs, whereas the broken lines link the people who are the ritual executors. As seen in Figure 11, each ritual is acted before the skilled work is begun. The purpose of the rituals differs depending on the occasion, but they include conciliating spirits, praying for safety and blessing the residents, among others. An important purpose appears to be what could be called a séance, which is used to invite the patron saint of carpenters, Lu Ban (木匠祖师爷鲁班)都市灵瞳 , to infuse the divine power to the chief carpenter. And this enhances their authority at the construction sites.
Figure 14. Social network in the Chuandou technology system. (Source: the author)
In a majority of these relatively isolated country villages, people tended to hire chief carpenter from other villages that their acquaintances had recommended. If they did hire a local chief carpenter, fee negotiations could prove to be troublesome, especially when it came to commission work.
When a conflict between the owner and the invited chief carpenter did occur海顿小夜曲, it was usually regarding money. The chief carpenter is also regarded as a Taoist master and he has the power to curse a home owner if treated unjustly. Li (2016) has reviewed many literature records regards the existence of carpenters’ exorcism (the so-called 厌胜).
The competition between Chief carpenters can be intense. There exists anecdotal evidence relating instances on how Chief carpenters sabotage their competitors’ work. Through our field work we heard some stories. For example, on some occasions, two chief carpenters were purposely invited to the same project. Each of them was in charge of half of a house. They then started to work at the same time from both sides of the house to see who was better and faster. Sometimes, they even hung a piece of cloth in the middle of the house so that their competitor could not see their work (told by Shengwen Yang in Dali village). Another story says that there was a chief carpenter got jealous on another carpenter. He stole some sticks which marked with dimensions (their usage is going to be talked right later in this paper) and hoped that his competitor carpenter would feel anxious when he need to use them and make a fool of himself in front of other people (told by Yonghua Wu in Sanjiang county).
3. Chief carpenter as Descendants of luban
There is a sharp distinction between chief carpenter and ordinary carpenters. We can find this inherent hierarchy vividly described in a piece of ancient Chinese prose called 梓人传 (‘A Biography of a Chief Carpenter’) by Zongyuan Liu (柳宗元), a famous Tang Dynasty (唐) writer. It tells the story of a chief carpenter by the name Ziren (梓人) who had excellent organisational skills on a construction site but lacked the skill to fix his own bed’s legs. What we saw in the Dong minority countryside was more or less the same occupational characteristics. Chief carpenters are in charge of work including designing, organizing, supervising and so on, but they rarely involve themselves in any of the physical work.
Through our research we discovered that the number of chief carpenters is low, demographically speaking. Normally there is one chief carpenter per village. To become a chief carpenter, one must receive formal career training. This education is often kept in one family, normally but not necessarily father to son. A chief carpenter qualified as a mentor can accept non-family disciples, but in those circumstances, the relationship between tutor and pupil remain in many aspects similar to the father-son relationship. To begin one’s learning, there is a ritual called Baishi (拜师). In this ritual the disciple must worship his mentor as well as saint Luban on his bended knees. Saint Luban is considered the founder of the occupation of carpenters (木匠祖师爷). In this particular ritual the position of saint Luban is represented by some wood-working tools, usually an axe and a frame saw (Liu 2017, 4-5). In a sense, all chief carpenters see themselves as descendants of saint Luban.
During the research, we found that the belief in saint Luban permeated many aspects of chief carpenters’ profession. Saint Luban is credited to having invented almost every important wood working tool there is. He is always represented by tools at the site of rituals (like in the Shangliang ritual, where wood working tools were placed beside the table with a pig’s head on top灵堂课室, showing that sacrifice has been offered to saint Luban. See Fig.11). We also found a ruler called Luban ruler (鲁班尺/门光尺) in chief carpenter Fengan Li’s home (see Frig.15). He told us it was used in order to decide the width of doors and windows in the past. In chief Yonghua Wu’s home, we were shown the writing style of Luban characters, each character uniquely representing the shape, direction, numbers and names of building components. These are exactly the words written on measuring sticks (see Fig.8). Wu told us that each lineage of chief carpenters has their own way of writing Luban characters. One can’t read others’ writings. It’s a way to keep a trade secret.
It is noteworthy that what we observed of the house construction trade in the Dong minority countryside is merely a blurry shadow of a past and distant magnificent tradition. The belief in saint Luban and more profound design principles, rituals and taboos can be traced back to the famous carpenter manual Luban Jing (鲁班经匠家镜). The earliest edition preserved (鲁班营造正式) was published in Ming dynasty (Guo 2016, 944). It is believed the original manuscript could be finished in the Yuan dynasty (Chen 2010, 97-98).The practise might be even earlier.
Figure 15. Luban ruler (鲁班真尺/门光尺), last used in 50s. Tongdao County, 2016. (Source: the author)
Figure 15. Luban characters (鲁班字). Rongjiang County, 2017. (Source: the author)
4. CONCLUSION
The fact that the trade of constructing chuandou houses still survives, although more and more obscure, makes Dong minority countryside an appropriate subject of further studies. Dong people are actually generally more known for their unique public buildings, such as towers (鼓楼) and bridges (风雨桥). However, the building technology in the region doesn’t differ very much from the one in Han areas in south China, for they do also put great importance to saint Luban and the construction of chuandou houses.
We observed a complete building system specified by both ritual and technology, and kept the same routine almost as the same as described in Luban jing (Guo 2016, 946-947). Yet we found more details. In the name of Luban, ritual and technology are unified in building practise. Chief carpenter has become an avatar of saint Luban. He uses tools invented by Luban, writes in Luban characters, designs houses by following principles set by Luban, etc. When he conducts rituals he sometimes even plays the role of saint Luban. In a sense, every chuandou house in man’s world is built under saint Luban’s power. According to some folk beliefs, Luban is consider a god. Through our field research on the construction technology, we discovered a more deep-going relationship between the belief in saint Luban and building practise. Such a technology system has been well adapted to traditional society for hundreds of years, because it has several advantages that are summarized below.
Firstly, chief carpenter’s professional character being overlapped with religious figures would give him some authority on the construction site, which he needs to negotiate with clients or hold a leading position in the job site, etc. Secondly, following the principles that are said to be set by saint Luban and that are passed down by generations would decrease a lot the workload. It is practical to make the construction process and the houses themselves stylized and fixed. Finally, the confidentiality of technology makes it hard to copy and learn. Thereby it could be inherited in its original way to the utmost. However, this conservatism of technology has limited its development and innovation.
Although it is not the focus of this paper, it is still instructive to clarify the scope and duration of the chuandou system, which suits quite well with a traditional society that in a way still lives on in southern China. Furthermore诛仙续 , if we compare this building system with others around the world, we get a better understanding of its characteristics. And knowing the differences between building systems will help us to get a better understanding of both the history as well as the future of chuandou houses.
注：此文章节选自任丛丛博士2018年1月发表于《BUILT HERITAGE》的学术文章，如若转载和研究使用请联络微信小编。
相关报道：
【专家访谈】“活化-以中国土家族泛博物馆为例” - 赵逵：盐道对土家文化的影响【专家访谈】“活化-以中国土家族泛博物馆为例” - 万谦：土家吊脚楼
【专家访谈】“活化-以中国土家族泛博物馆为例” - 刘小虎：土家居住与生活
【专家访谈】“活化-以中国土家族泛博物馆为例” - 李晓峰：土家聚落“活化——以中国土家族泛博物馆为例”展览于威尼斯禅宫盛大开幕！
Fondazione EMGdotART（雅伦格文化艺术基金会）于2013年在意大利威尼斯成立，是威尼斯首个由中国和意大利民间机构共同发起的非盈利文化艺术基金会。基金会由Marion Folin教授担任主席，旨在通过威尼斯的国际文化艺术平台，推动当代建筑设计和文化艺术的国际交流与合作。每年威尼斯艺术双年展和建筑双年展期间，基金会以展览、论坛、工作坊、出版等活动内容连接全球前沿文化、艺术、设计资源，并通过颁发奖项、设立奖学金等激励形式，积极推动并大力支持中国当代建筑设计和文化艺术的国际交流与创新发展。
成立至今，基金会先后与全球30多个国家、50多所高校、150多名艺术家、200多名建筑师进行合作，举办了200余场有关当代艺术、建筑、设计的专业展览，以及50多场顶尖学术研讨会和大师论坛逃跑新郎 ，并与100多家国内外相关领域的专业媒体建立了长久的合作关系。