In early 2001, New York City's China Institute hosted the Living Heritage--Vernacular Environment in China exhibition in order to expand the view of China's domestic architecture by going beyond the walls to look at the families inside. A symposium was held to complement the exhibition, and the 16 essays here have been developed from presentations there by mostly North American scholars of art history, history, anthropology, and other fields. Many color illustrations accompany the text, but this is not a catalogue of the exhibition. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)