Saturday, May 7, 2011

china house museum

Opened on 2nd, Sep, 2007, Porcelain House, also known as the "China House" or Yuebao House, is located in Tianjin Commercial Center.

In September, 2002, the porcelain collector Zhang Lianzhi (张连志) spent 1 million yuan (US$125,000) buying the house. Then in the following four years, the 49-year-old Tianjin native devoted most of his time to refurnish it with hundreds of thousands of porcelain pieces dating from Tang (AD 618-907) to Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It is calculated that more than 400 million pieces of ancient porcelain, 16 thousand pieces of ancient chinaware, 300 white-marble carvings, and 20 tons of natural crystals were used in the process.


About 80 percent of the porcelain used in the house is broken or damaged antiques.


The house is covered with various porcelain pieces such as plates, vases and figurines, making it come into the spotlight in the neighborhood. Elements of Chinese culture can be seen at every turn of the house, for example, the four "China dragons," entwining the exterior wall of the building, auspiciously symbolize the power in ancient China and is one of the dominant features in ancient Chinese architecture. Each "dragon", which has a length of more than 200 meters, is actually pieced together by mosaic of porcelain pieces.

I'm linking this heart to Guest Heart Thursday




Covered with more than 3,000 porcelain vases, the wall around the courtyard gets a very auspicious name "Ping'an Qiang" (Wall of Wellness). The pronunciation of Chinese word for vase ("ping") is the same as the word for wellness.





7 comments:

Clytie said...

Oh Dani, how wonderful for you to have seen this amazing place. I am in absolute awe of the time, work and artistry used to make the entire house a masterpiece!

And that beautiful heart ... how wonderful that hearts are the same no matter where in the world we go!!! Good luck on your exams. I know you will do well!

SquirrelQueen said...

This place looks absolutely awesome. The time and work that went into creating it is hard to comprehend. I love the walls of vases and jars. Thanks for taking us along on the tour.

Anonymous said...

What a treasure ! How much work, passion and time must have went into creating it. Impressive indeed. Thank you for this nice journey.
Please have a good Sunday.


daily athens

Unknown said...

Wow, what a great place.

Kaori said...

China house museum looks so interesting! Great photos! I especially like the squigly "China" written in your first photo :D

Lynette said...

This is so amazing. I would think that you will never, ever forget your visit to such a fascinating place. Plus you have these great photos, too!

黄清华 Wong Ching Wah said...

Wonderful close-ups ! ...
Have a good day !