In Chinese they describe it as “净化心灵”, meaning ‘purify the soul’. We stayed on the farm ‘椿庭朴门’ nor far from Shanghai, with 大熊 (Big Bear) and his wife Moqi & their two daughters. The place is far from a typical Chinese rural farm. Here, everything is made from bright wood bend into various shapes, fit to match the ideas of 大熊. 大熊 is a former architect from Hubei, and calls his style ‘functional scenery’. The main shed for instance combines a living room with a canoe-building workshop, and a guesthouse above it. It all fits together SO well, as if it’s carefully designed to look a tiny bit careless. Outside, crops grow and chicken pok. We ate from the lands and any scraps were fed back to it — or to the poultry. And while everything around us seemed functional, we kinda did nothing for three days, apart from 净化心灵.
