First directory of Beijing's traditional 'siheyuan' courtyard homes to be published
Nearly 1,000 logged, including those in 10 courtyards from Qing Dynasty found in mountains
The first ever official directory of siheyuan – the traditional courtyard homes of Beijing – is expected to be published by the end of this year.
Nearly 1,000 siheyuan have been logged, with owners’ details, floor plans, photographs, and accounts of their construction.
The directory, compiled by the Office of Beijing Geographical History, will provide the fullest record yet of what were the capital’s most important dwellings before the modern era.
But 100 have been omitted because their owners refused to collabourate.
Tan Liefei, the office’s deputy director and an editor of the directory, said some of these were well preserved, “structurally very complete” contained valuable ancient artifacts.
But they were owned or used by organisations or individuals who were not “cooperative” to the survey, he said.