"Chinese ho-yuan could be connected together or divided up," he explains. After a large family subdivides and each member forms his own family, one need only close the side doors of the rooms; the main compound and the hulung, or auxiliary rooms set off to the left and right of the main com pound (separated by an open-air pathway), can then become two independent bodies.
「中國合院是可合可分的」，他解釋，在一個大家族分火、分房之後，只要關上廂房邊門，正身和護龍即可切成兩個獨立主體。