Nina Unscripted: Private Tour of Chinese House
Nina visits the beautiful and remarkable 200 year old Yin Yu Tang house that was MOVED from China to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Massachusetts. There is NO place like this outside of China.
Next up on Spices of Life: Behind the Scenes at America’s Test Kitchen, #1 food show on Public Television.
We were privileged to have Nancy Berliner, the Curator of Chinese Art at the museum, give us a personal tour. The house provides insight into the history and daily lifestyle of a Chinese merchant’s family and the intricate woodwork showcases the exquisite architecture and building methods from Anhui province in Eastern China.
Rather than restoring the house to the way it was when it was first built, Nancy and the museum chose instead to keep it EXACTLY as it was when the family moved out a few years ago. It allows us to see the layers of Chinese history from the time it was built through the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution.
The house is just one of the treasures at the Peabody Essex Museum and don’t miss the fabulous gift shop and prices are SO reasonable. I have spent MORE $$$ than I care to admit there, but they have BEAUTIFUL things. Enjoy!!
“SORRY !! The sound of Nancy’s voice is a little soft, so CRANK UP the volume on your computer OR BETTER STILL, GO VISIT THE CHINESE HOUSE YOURSELF. DO A TOUR AND LISTEN TO AUTHOR AMY TANG’S LOVELY NARRATIVE.”
Nina, you are too much fun! Thank you for this visit to the museum and Yin Yu Tang, you are correct, it is such a special place. I try to imagine each time I go in, several daughters-in-law each with their own kitchen, children running around, yet all in this home going about their daily lives generation after generation.
Even though the house has been open to the public since the museum re-opened a few years ago, visitors continue to be amazed and inspired by it.
Hope to see you, and many other visitors soon! Cassandra
Hi Nina,
You did a really good job with the museum video.
The shots of inside the house and the kitchen were really great.
The closer you are to the person speaking the better the audio, I had to put on headphones to hear it better.
Sometimes you took a few steps back to give us a better view of the scene, but that made it harder to hear…
So what I do is stay up close to get all the good audio, then take extra shots of the scene and edit those shots on top of the good audio, but that means more editing and we are trying to stay away from doing that… It’s a little awkward but if you could stay close to he person talking while taking shots of where you are that is best and I think you did a good job of that inside the house…
One thing I do is explain to people prior to shooting that I need to stay close to them to get good audio so they know what’s going on…
–Steve