Wooden collection

Traditional houses are restored to their previous glory as Shanghai businessman Qin Tongqian devotes his time to the process.[Photo provided to China Daily]

A man's passion for ancient Chinese houses drives him to buy many, with the aim of restoring them, he tells Deng Zhangyu.

Some people collect paintings, others, sculptures and antique furniture. But Qin Tongqian does more－h(huán)e buys entire houses, mostly homes built in ancient China.

He doesn't resell them. He is passionate about these old buildings and boasts a collection of more than 400 wooden structures. He restores anything that needs renovation and gives the public a chance to view them once they have been restored to their former glory.

At a warehouse, transformed from a military base in Shaoxing, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, Qin has stored hundreds of rosewood beds, chairs, dining tables, rows of corbels, pillars, windows and all other things required to rebuild the houses－some more than several centuries old.

It has been six months since his workers started numbering the items, and the process is ongoing. It is just one of the four factory-like warehouses Qin has in Shaoxing and Shanghai.

Qin, owner of a Shanghai-based real estate company, spent his childhood in Shao-xing, a city with many old mansions.