Jiànchuān

Jianchuan's old town took shape under the Ming in 1390. Its Bai households and builders created an urban landscape of timber residences and enclosed courtyards. On West Gate Street, the Zhang Mian residence dated from 1500, while the Wang Ying house was built in 1541 and the Duan Xueyan residence in 1602. Different layouts accommodated successive generations of local families within the same growing town.

Domestic buildings stood alongside monuments to public service. He Keji's courtyard residence was built in 1624. In 1629 the Zhaozhong shrine was established to commemorate Duan Gaoxuan, a magistrate who had died in service in Sichuan. Its three successive courtyards brought commemorative ritual into the town's streets. Bai craftsmen drew on northern Chinese building forms, adapting them in the houses and halls that gave Jianchuan its distinctive Ming architectural character.