Parade with Gods
How can China’s villages win their tug-of-war with the cities?
A graduation design, in three rounds.
Seven of us spent ten days in the hamlets of Fujian.
February 2023, in Xiange hamlet and Xiancun town, Ningde. Among beliefs and customs I didn’t know, I worked as an ethnographer: fieldwork, interviews, measured drawings and data.
Round 1
Urban invasion. The villages lost.
Roads and high-speed rail brought the city close, and people left. Xiange is easy to reach, yet small and without an industry of its own, so it keeps losing the people who live there.
Round 2
Parade with gods.
On festive days, villagers carry their god’s statue out of the temple in a sedan chair, so it can bless the community. Beliefs they share hold the hamlet together, and could carry it forward.
Round 3
Learning from Disneyland.
Temples and theme parks both turn a way of life into a story you walk through. After Robert Venturi, I borrowed three of Disneyland’s methods: zone mapping, a system of symbols, and low materiality.
Temple and godTheme
Tudi Templegod of earth and cropsFour Seasons Parka fairground, a circular theatre
Former Tudi TempleCateringthe Golden Arch
Wu Palaceguardian of the Wu clanGatheringthe assembly hall, in use since the Ming
Lin’gong Palacegod of royaltyFinancethe Loyalty & Fairness Bank
Guanyin Templegoddess of compassionHoly placea viral Guanyin statue
Shengmu Palacegoddess of medicineHealthcarea health station
Dasheng Palacethe Monkey KingRecreationa kung fu school, a public stage
Sanguan Palacegods of three realmsMourninga Ferris wheel of flowers
Each god’s domain became a theme for village life.
A tin roof and a strip of red paper can hold a faith.
I visited dozens of belief buildings, many of them makeshift sheds. Like a ride in a theme park, a belief space can be built lightly, as a container for spirit and public life.
- Role
- Fieldwork with a team of seven; research and design, solo
- Course
- Graduation design, with Dr. Luo Hui
- Year
- Spring – Summer 2023
- Thanks
- The villagers of Xiange hamlet and Xiancun town, Ningde, Fujian