This book starts with a question of Lou Qingxi --- “what’s the vernacular architecture？” Lou Qingxi explains the “vernacular architecture” from two aspects： in a broad sense， any architecture with geographical characteristics， that is， local indigenous architecture， can be called vernacular architecture； in a narrow sense， the vernacular architecture is that wrote in this book， meaning the native-born architecture in the villages. The rural architecture is built by experienced carpenter and owner together with some farmers but not the design of architects， so it is called native-born architecture. The vernacular architecture is a kind of historical record， whose main value is to record the politics， economy and culture of China’s agricultural society. Lou Qingxi thinks that the architecture of a village reflects its cultural context and takes Lin County， Shanxi as an example， which is an industrial village， an argil-producing village. The village is not lack of water because there is water under the mountain， so the fired pottery and fired vat industry has developed since ancient times， in which the fired vat develops as the Shanxi people like vinegar and they store the vinegar in the vat. As there are waste products during handcraft production， the waste products are abandoned in some places， but are kept in Lin County and used as the chimney of kiln， or piled up as courtyard wall. The courtyard wall is soil in most villages across the country， but vat in Lin County， so is the toilet. The vats everywhere in the village form a special landscape and also record the special historical and economic form of this village. Compared with the urban architecture， from the perspective of architectural type， a village is of no guild hall or grand theatre as that in urban areas； from the perspective of construction technology， a village is of no comprehensive， systematic and specification-based architecture as that in urban areas. The vernacular architecture is native-born and built with existing materials. The characteristics of vernacular architecture are divided into two parts in this book： first， its combination with natural landscape is more close and harmonious than the urban areas； second， the architectural form of China’s village is richer than the urban areas.
　　In the comparison of vernacular architecture with urban architecture， Lou Qingxi points out that the characteristics of vernacular architecture is that it is built by local craftsmen using local materials and local traditional skills. For the woodworking， Dongyang， Zhejiang is Dongyang Clique and Shaoxing is Shaoxing Clique with strong local style. Specifically， “local” has four meanings： local craftsmen， local materials， local skills and local environment suitable. Besides， as the villages do not communicate with each other for a long time， it is easy to form local styles； for example， in Fujian， another language is spoken over a mountain. This is the reason for the morphologically diversified vernacular architecture. By contrast， it is not the case for the urban architecture and it is not likely to have Mongolian yurt or Tulou in the urban area. 　　Lou Qingxi points out that although the vernacular architecture in this book looks beautiful， but the common people do not like to live in it， but like to live in the new house； therefore， there is a conflict difficult to reconcile between protection of ancient villages and improvement of local people’s livelihood. First， the residence should be renovated. People in the village are capable of buying furniture and household appliances， but it is dark in the traditional vernacular architecture because the windows are floral windows. The function of a window is for ventilation， lighting and closing. However， though the floral windows are valuable in the eye of researchers， they have no function of the window. So the common people take down the window and then the wall is transformed， or the richer people will even build a new house based on the original homestead， thus the original appearance of ancient villages are destroyed； this is the conflict between protection and development and it is a long story about how to perfectly settle this conflict. Moreover， Lou Qingxi points out that we should have a reasonable understanding of the demolition of many ancient villages. It is somewhat sad emotionally， but it is unable and unnecessary to preserve all ancient villages rationally because no one can stop the common people pursuing new life. He also notes that it is also the case in foreign countries. There are many natural museums in foreign countries. When the fine architecture in a village is destroyed， the architecture will be bought， demolished and moved to a new place to form a new village. In the village protection and development， Lou Qingxi also gives two good examples in our country； one is Zhuge Village and the other one is Zhouzhuang. Lou Qingxi notes that Zhouzhuang is a commercial town and it is not a kind of damage if used for commercial development. Although Zhouzhuang develops the tourism with many tourists， but the ancient building is not allowed to be changed by law， thus a virtuous circle is formed. The protection of ancient villages sponsored by the government is very expensive. As to the promotion of Zhuge Village and Zhouzhuang mode， Lou Qingxi takes Zhuge Village as an example which owns a tourism company and can master its revenue and invest a considerable part of income into the protection of ancient building. Besides， Lou Qingxi also takes the famous historical and cultural village - Guodong Village as an example whose tourism development is controlled by the Tourist Administration； however， the ancient buildings are not repaired as the Tourist Administration possesses the majority of the tourism revenues. Besides， the damage on local ecological environment caused by tourism and catering industry is not controlled - the branch secretary of Guodong Village has a restaurant with good business and he is the first to buy a car.