Shi Family Courtyard is located in the center of Yangliuqing, a thousand-year-old town, on the bank of the South Canal where the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal flows through Tianjin. It was originally the residence of Shi Yuanshi, one of the Eight Great Families of Tianjin in the late Qing Dynasty. The Shi family was originally from Shandong. After their ancestors made their fortune in the grain transport industry, they settled in Yangliuqing during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. In the third year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1823), the Shi family divided their property into four main gates, namely Fushan Hall, Zhenglian Hall, Tianxi Hall, and Zunmei Hall. Each gate has a large-scale building. The current Shi Family Courtyard is the only remaining "Zunmei Hall" mansion, which was once known as "the first family in Tianjin" and "the first house in North China".
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Philosophy related to the heritage
As a large residential building complex in the Qing Dynasty, Tianjin Shijia Courtyard not only embodies the family concept and spatial philosophy in traditional Chinese culture, but also can be uniquely interpreted from the perspectives of Eastern and Western philosophy. Eastern philosophy attaches importance to the "unity of man and nature". The symmetrical layout of the central axis, the courtyard design, and the integration of architecture and nature of Shijia Courtyard highlight the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. The brick carvings, wood carvings and other decorations in the courtyard contain the Confucian value of "ritual", reflecting the core of hierarchical order and human relations. Western philosophy pays more attention to the tension between the individual and the whole. From an existentialist perspective, the closed courtyard design of Shijia Courtyard may be a metaphor for the limitations of the individual and the pursuit of self-transcendence. The geometric order and symmetrical beauty of the building conform to the concept of "ideal form" in Plato's rationalism, revealing the human desire for eternity and order. The two philosophies are not contradictory in the interpretation of Shijia Courtyard, but complement each other. It not only carries the collectivity of Eastern family culture, but also inspires thinking about the meaning of Western individual existence, showing the possibility and beauty of cross-cultural philosophical dialogue.