From Form to Yijing: Spatial Experience and Heritage Conservation in the Ma Family Courtyard

Abstract

This study examines how the spatial yijing of the Ma Family Courtyard in Pingyao is produced and how it may be sustained through
heritage conservation. Yijing is defined here as an aesthetic realm arising from the interaction of material setting, embodied movement, cultural memory, emotion, and meaning. Drawing on Chinese aesthetic thought, courtyard-space studies, and international conservation principles, the paper develops a six-stage chain: cultural accumulation, spatial organization, embodied viewing, image formation, integration of
setting and emotion, and formation of yijing. The Ma Family Courtyard is used as an interpretive case to show how nested courts, thresholds,
framed views, material textures, decorative symbols, and movement sequences transform architectural form into an experiential and cultural
realm. On this basis, the paper proposes a form–yijing conservation approach that coordinates material repair, spatial-order protection, visitorroute management, ambience control, cultural interpretation, and living transmission. The study argues that conserving architectural heritage
requires not only the retention of physical fabric but also the continuity of the experiential conditions through which cultural significance becomes perceptible.