Jeffrey Wong Builds Brick-by-Brick

Photo by Bob Kronbauer

“I’m just an old man enjoying my hobby,” states a jovial Jeffrey Wong, giving no indication that his favorite pastime is a far cry from the fly-fishing or sightseeing one might expect from your typical retiree.

During a phone interview from his native Canada, self-professed “old man” Wong bubbles over with excitement when chatting about the aforementioned hobby: saving ancient architectural treasures from China’s take-no-prisoners development boom. Over the past seven years, Wong has collected over 150 architectural structures across China, rescuing them from certain demolition, including mansions from the Ming Dynasty, historical houses, tea houses, pagodas, bridges, and temples like Shanghai’s original Jing An temple.

“I’m not an architect. I’m not a historian or a savior,” he mused. “I was a businessman before, but now I just collect old architecture and the individual stories behind them.”

When you see an old house disassembled and put back together, it allows you to share the joy of the work; its like a jigsaw puzzle.

After retiring in Shanghai in 1994, Jeffrey Wong became concerned about the rapid pace of demolition and lack of protection for historic architecture in the area. From this concern, Wong cultivated an extensive collection of threatened architecture in the area. With his first architectural purchase in 1998 of a Qianlong era house from Suzhou, Wong created his own formula for historic preservation.

“I took it apart, brick by brick, tile by tile, pillars and all,” recalls Wong. “Then I shipped it over to a piece of land I had acquired earlier in the Qingpu district of Shanghai where I had a workshop. I hired old craftsmen from the Suzhou area and started to repair and rebuild the house there.” Salvaging parts from less desirable structures of the same period, Wong and his team of civil engineers and traditional craftsmen, experienced in the technique of bracket system construction, restore the architecture to its original form without sacrificing the individual scratches, detail flaws, and general wear and tear in these rich historical buildings.

“Every piece of architecture I collect has a story behind it; it’s so fascinating!” Wong effuses. Collecting in two categories, Wong looks for well-built wooden bracket houses or buildings with historical significance. “I maintain the original integrity of the building to show you the history behind the architecture.”

Photo by Steven Harris

One of the oldest structures Wong owns in his collection is the ancestral house of Xu Zhimo, a leader of China’s modern poetry movement during the ’20s. Built 480 years ago during the Ming dynasty, the four-courtyard mansion (most families lived in single-courtyard dwellings) was transported from its original location in Zhejiang province to Wong’s first storehouse in Qingpu in 1998. Last year the government approached Wong, regretting that they had sold the historic house.

“I told them if they could find a good plan for protecting the house, I’d give it back to them for free. I haven’t heard from them yet.” When Wong found out about the city’s plans to renovate the historic Jing An temple, he struck a deal with the management of the temple to sell him all the materials. Soon, he caught wind of larger plans to rebuild the entire structure, “so I told them, let me send my craftsmen there, we’ll take it down piece by piece; sell me the pieces so you can rebuild the new temple.” Predating Shanghai, the 1,700-year-old shrine was moved into storage for safekeeping and will be rebuilt nearby on Wong’s newly acquired plot near the UNESCO world heritage site of Tong Li. Another prize in his collection is the mansion of Du Yuesheng or Big Eared Du, the godfather of colonial Shanghai’s underground, a crime kingpin with his hands in everything from opium to racketeering and with connections reaching all the way up to Chiang Kai-Shek. The house was acquired by Wong when Shanghai city officials re-zoned the district to make room for the park.

Photo by Steven Harris

The largest threat to the project is the threat of time. “It could easily take 20-25 years to repair my current collection of about 150 houses,” Wong emphasizes, “assuming that everyone is still alive”—the oldest of Wong’s craftsmen is 83—“and not counting the time it would take to actually rebuild each piece.” Over the course of a year, the team of 50-60 craftsmen can only finish about three to four large houses or ten smaller houses. All of the craftsmen Wong has hired were apprentices to the old masters and all of them are over 60 years old. “There aren’t good craftsmen around anymore because there isn’t interest amongst younger craftsmen to learn how to rebuild these wooden structure houses.” Appearing as early as the Warring States period in China during the 3rd century B.C., a hallmark of this ancient style of construction is the fact that they are entirely built without the use of nails and the bracket-style scaffolding distributes the weight of the roof down and through the wooden framework using large pillars. The non-load bearing walls leave the builders flexibility in placing doors and windows.

Since late 2004, Shanghai City adopted new regulations requiring proper permission before demolishing any building con¬structed before 1949. Although local governments have reacted positively to Wong’s hobby, they are not offering monetary or official support. During negotiations a local government will occasion¬ally intervene, lobbying to keep the architectural piece intact and to preserve it in its original place. Jeffrey and his team will walk away from the table once a local group accepts responsibility to preserve a structure.

Photo by Steven Harris

After the Shanghai government re-zoned Wong’s original plot of land in Qingpu into a more commercial and residential area, Wong moved his collection to Tong Li where he hopes to create an open air museum and cultural center for the arts. Each building would house smaller exhibits and would serve as an artist’s exchange. “The culture of China goes back thousands of years, and of course I’d like to see all these cultures and traditions preserved in a proper way. I’d like to exhibit some of the 6,500-year-old artifacts recently excavated from the Jiangsu province, close to Tong Li,” Wong explains. “Artists could come to my space and enjoy my collection instead of going to a convention hall.”

With no plans of starting a new hobby anytime in the near future, Wong spends his retirement days reading, studying Chinese history and culture, and practicing his Chinese calligraphy. “When you see an old house disassembled and put back together, it allows you to share the joy of the work; its like a jigsaw puzzle,” Wong shares. “Since then, I have fallen in love with collecting Chinese architecture. I’m just a retired old man enjoying what I do.”