Reimagining Urban Playground
Deluo Chen
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To Live with Death
—— study of Bingyutang (2023)This thesis explores the connection between death and the architectural needs of Zishunv women, focusing on Bingyutang, a local ancestral shrine. It reveals Zishunv's in-between social identity as women who, in defiance of gender norms, tried to fit into the male-dominated ancestor worship system while maintaining their independence.
The custom of celibacy in exchange for labor freedom allowed them to live outside marriage, but they still faced exclusion from both their natal family and the posthumous world. Zishunv’s social identity, shaped by this compromise, leaves them marginalized both in life and death.
Bingyutang, as a space blending residence and ancestral shrine, reflects their struggle for recognition, providing a place for their ritual and posthumous affiliation, where they could settle their "othered" identity. The building symbolizes their complex relationship with gender, social norms, and the afterlife.