Chenerjian House

There is a local saying in Fujian Province, “the sea is the field of the Fujianese". Therefore, certain products from the sea were used as building materials. In addition to the reefs used to make the rockery, shells could also be used as materials to build walls. In recent years, a new painting technology has appeared in which shells are used. Jishuilou Building and Jiyanglou Building are the perfect examples of this technology. In the book about the famous doctor, Li Shizhen living in the Ming Dynasty, there are descriptions of a great number of houses build using shells.

Shell House

Because the shells of oysters have a much larger size, these shells were used to build the gable. Moreover, these materials could be used together with red bricks and white limestone, to help prevent erosion from rainfall and the sea breezes.