海陆之间——华南竹筒屋起源考

Between Land and Sea:The Origin of Bamboo House in South China

竹筒屋以其单开间、大纵深的狭长平面得名,曾为华南传统城镇建筑主流,惟其起源尚待深究。聚焦史料丰富的广州,基于方志、经界图、舆图、影像等证据,可发现早期竹筒屋地段普遍位于明清时期的岸线上。利用冲积趋势竞相向海填筑,既是城镇空间扩张的主要手段,也是大纵深屋地得以形成的关键机制。与此同时,世居华南江海的疍民,正日趋附城谋生并陆续上岸归化。其以艇为宅、编篷成聚的古老水居习俗,至少是联排单间成为当地城居模式的重要参照。在华南竹筒屋的形塑中,濒海环境的影响值得深入探讨。

In order to find out the origin of traditional townhouse in South China,which locally nicknamed“Bamboo House”for its extremely lengthy and narrow layout,this paper focuses on Canton,the oldest and largest city in South China,to look for evidences from its rich collection of historic cadastral maps,documents,paintings and photographs.As the evidences indicate,most of these traditional townhouses were once built on tidal flats and shoals.The popular and continual sea reclamation during Ming and Qing dynasty should be responsible for an ever-growing longhouse shape,and the single-bay housing tradition could relate to the native Tanka people,who spent their whole lives on boats and got used to narrow living space.Single-bay longhouse therefore became a dominating form of townhouse,as Tanka naturalization,sea reclamation and early urbanization took place simultaneously in coastal South China during the 16th-19th century.