An open source museum plan : hands-on public participation of the craftsmanship tradition and techniques in the restoration of Xihuamen

Abstract

The topic of this dissertation is about the tradition materials and techniques used in the construction and conservation of palatial architecture at the Forbidden City. In particular, this dissertation focuses on “The Eight Big Works” techniques” and using the part of Forbidden City known as Xihuamen (西华门 “West Chinese Gate”) as the study context. Ever since the forbidden city was built, the techniques that were commonly used in the construction of the heritage buildings has been kept alive during its conservation history. It is divided into eight groups, which represented by its name “The Eight Big Works” (八大作). During WWI to WWII when the maintenance of the Forbidden City was completely obstructed by the political instability, and 2010 when the restoration team was abruptly dissolved due to a change of policy on construction, The Eight Big Works and its inheritance are in great danger of disappearing and left destructive negative influence until now. Even from 2013 the Palace Museum has been trying different ways to remedy this issue, its main focus is still too much on the tangible aspect, and the situation of this intangible heritage is still not positive until now, which is also the key issue addressed by this dissertation. The author has undertaken field research for an exhibition design for a gateway structure in the Palace Museum (the Forbidden City), and her experience has led her to two observations. One is the overall exhibition of Palace Museum tends to be over-focused on the tangible aspect – the architecture and antiques – and scarcely on the intangible aspect of the architecture and artefacts, which is the craftsmanship traditions and techniques related to the construction and conservation of the official architectures named “The Eight Big Works” techniques and the few exhibitions on master craftsmen are restricted to simple storages display. Another observation is that when conservation is carried out on a heritage building or structure, which is frequently in the Forbidden City, there is the opportunity of exhibiting “The Eight Big Works” techniques as a live exhibition, but very often, the work is not exhibited to the public but treated as construction work that the public is not allowed to access. The scope of the research is to build on the author’s preliminary research of Xihuamen to develop a new museum exhibition concept. The author would like to take the opportunity of this dissertation to further develop the concept into an “Open Source Museum Plan” of “The Eight Big Works” construction/conservation techniques used in Chinese palatial architecture of the Qing Dynasty, which applies to Xihuamen. This plan is a method of exhibiting the techniques in an active and participatory manner, which, in so doing, provides the participants with a more in-depth understanding of the construction nature of the architecture and its appropriate conservation.