Page 116 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

84 C. Wu

The hybridizing red brick construction and masonry technique of brick and stone
had been the most explicit characteristic of the regional architectural heritage in the
coast of southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong since late Ming Dynasty.
According to the archaeological discovery in Fujian and Guangdong areas, the red
brick material such as the special products of early kiln technique of oxidizing
atmosphere had been used in tomb and house construction during Han and Tang
dynasties. These traditional red brick materials generally changed to grey brick in
the construction for the kiln technique improving to carbonizing flame in long
medieval period of Song and Yuan dynasties. So this hybridizing red brick archi-
tectures of Ming and Qing dynasties in the coastal regions in Fujian and Guangdong
were different not only from those grey brick architectures in north and west inland
areas of Fujian and Guangdong, but also from those gray brick houses of earlier
periods (Song and Yuan dynasties) in the local coastal regions. Since late Ming
Dynasty, the south Fujian and east Guangdong was the only regions where this new
style red brick buildings was developed with hybridizing cultures of east and west,
where had been exactly the maritime economical hinterland of Yuegang-Manila
navigation. This hybridizing red brick landscape had been actually consistent with
the historical masonry technique of Rome and Islamic architecture that had been
prevalent from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf for thousands of years, and
throughout the American continent in last 500 years.
The historical documents and local clan archives recorded that most of the well
known red brick architectures in southern coast of Fujian had been built by oversea
Chinese coming back from the Philippines. The Cai (#) family mansion at
Guanqiao (&") village of Nanan ($!) county was built by the oversea Chinese
Qichang Cai (#'$) from Philippines in Tongzhi ((), 1862–1874) period of
Qing Dynasty. He returned back from the Philippines and shipped all of the bricks
and tiles from the Philippines to homeland for this proud building of his family. The
decoration pattern and the sculptural content of the bricks and stones hybridized
with traditional Chinese and exotic European features. The Tianyi Xinju (!-$
$, One World Post Of!ce) at Yuegang of Longhai county, and its branches at
Amoy, Anhai (!") and Philippines were built by oversea Chinese Youpin Guo
(&))) from the Philippines in late Qing Dynasty when Spanish still colonized
the Philippines, all of which had also been constructed in a mixed Chinese and
European style (Figs. 4.10 and 4.11). The Daiwei ($%) village in Dongyuan ("
%) of Longhai county was the largest red brick settlement in southern coast Fujian,
including more than 60 buildings with almost the same size, style and direction,
presenting both the Chinese courtyard dwelling style and western red brick masonry
technique. Daiwei pattern red brick settlement is situated near the Yuegang seaport
and related closely to the history of the Yuegang-Manila navigation, so it will be an
interesting topic to carry out a systematic investigation on the origin and history of
these hybridizing red brick buildings in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong on
the perspective of Yuegang-Manila navigation and historical maritime
globalization.