'Crazy' idea highlights Chinese culture

The Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang visited the site in late June, joining students and volunteers in raising a wood frame and making a hempcrete wall. He drew inspiration from the joinery, which holds the wooden columns and other structures firmly together.

"In the face of the challenges, Chinese and American people are like the joinery. Individually it has limited strength, but we could play a huge role together by seeking common ground while shelving differences, enhancing exchange and ramping up cooperation, and make the house of China-US friendship more solid," he said.

Fair says he was very happy to be there for the Chinese ambassador's visit and was pleased that he showed support for the project.

"I think the continuing cultural exchange that happens there will bring many good things to our area and keep a door open between the Chinese and American people," he says.

Yang Wendou, who coordinates Flower's program in China and serves as a tour guide for US students, agrees.

"Yunnan is rich in its intangible cultural heritage, and US students participating in the China Fieldwork Semester are very interested in learning wood carving, dyeing, or silver smithery from rural masters," Yang says.

"Craftsmanship knows no borders. It would be great if carpenters from Yunnan and West Virginia could exchange their skills and talk about the culture behind them," he adds.

Flower says the house is helping create a whole China Folk House community. Even when the house is no longer meaningful to the local community or relevant to the youngsters, it can become a shelter, like a hostel, for hikers.

And then, when it is no longer useful as a shelter, it will at least return to nature.

Without lots of plastic and non-biodegradable building materials, its timbers and hempcrete will slowly return to the earth from which they came.

Houses are for people, and Flower says people-to-people relations are more important than ever.

"We fear and hate what we don't understand. When we can put a human face on an abstract idea like 'China' and understand that we all share the hope of living peaceful, happy lives and leaving a better world for our children, it's impossible to project our fears and hatred onto an 'other' that is as human as we are," he says.

"At CFHR, we are committed to letting all kinds of people from Yunnan, West Virginia and other parts of China and the US to come and get to know each other as people with common causes and shared dreams," he says.

Back in Cizhong, Zhang says he is glad that Flower has finally made it.

"I hope I can see the house someday," he says in a phone call from the village, which he notes now has a power supply in all weather.

"We'll be very happy to host him in his old house, and I think I'll simply tell him 'Welcome home!'" Flower says.

Like the fictional "clubhouse "from the film Up perched on the cliff overlooking Paradise Falls in South America, the China Folk House Retreat overlooking the Shenandoah River is a testimony to the realization of a crazy idea that not only makes a good story, but has plenty of tales yet to tell.