A lovely site: Yin Yu Tang, a Chinese Home is the house of a wealthy merchant whose descendants decided to sell it after all their family members had moved out of the village. A curator at the Peabody Essex Museum happened to be visiting the village when family members had returned to the house to discuss putting it up for sale. She worked with the Xiuning County Cultural Relics Administration to acquire the house for permanent exhibit in the U.S. The careful disassembly and reconstruction was performed with the help of Chinese carpenters and stonemasons. The photos and descriptions of the complex joinery, which made use of wooden pegs and no nails or glue, make IKEA furniture assembly feel like child’s play. (via Yahoo! Picks)