During the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), a prosperous merchant named Huang built a stately 16-bedroom house in China’s southeastern Huizhou region, calling his home Yin Yu Tang, meaning “Hall of Plentiful Shelter.” The house was home to the Huang family for more than 200 years until the last descendants moved from the village in 1982. In the 1990s, as part of a mutually beneficial cultural exchange, the home and its contents were carefully dismantled and transported to Salem, Massachusetts for eventual installation at the Peabody Essex Museum.

Touring Yin Yu Tang last December, we wore our winter coats, because it is unheated. Inside it is like a time capsule, with cultural artifacts dating from the Cultural Revolution and before. Wandering through its two floors and numerous rooms, it was easy to forget that we were actually still in 21st-century America.

The name “Yin Yu Tang” has several meanings; one refers to the owner’s wish that this house would shelter their descendants far into the future. That wish was fulfilled – Yin Yu Tang was home to eight generations of the Huang family. At any one time, as many as 30 people, from three different generations, lived there — nearly all women and children. The young men worked as merchants in cities at a distance from the village to support their families. The journey to these cities was often dangerous, and the men lived there for extended periods of time, sometimes for as long as six years. In their absence, the women, children and elders were the primary residents of the house. While caring for the younger and older generations, the women maintained the sixteen-bedroom home, farmed vegetables and raised chickens and pigs.

I had almost forgotten about this exhibit, at least until last Friday, when Chris and I visited Costco. This big box retailer has always held an outsized attraction for Chris and our parents. Back in the day, when we would visit Costco, Chris would drop-off his latest rolls of film for developing and then we would have to wait there until it was ready. More recently, on our last visit here to Monterey, we had a fight when Chris and my dad both insisted that I refill my rent-a-car at Costco, because gas was cheap there. I resisted and Chris could just not let it go.

I was under the misconception that Costco was an acronym that stood for Chinese Overseas Shipping Company, but that name belongs to COSCO. The origin of Costco’s name is more domestic. The company was originally called Priceline and evolved to its current name. Not that like any other big box retailer, Costco doesn’t have deep ties to China. Who knows what Trump’s tariffs will do to this chain? While shopping there I looked or signs of rising prices, but with their extra-large unit sizes, it was impossible to tell. One thing that I can say for Costco is that I am pleased with their stand on DEI. That and the fact that after forty years they have opened a store closer than fifty miles away may cause me to join their shopping club. Who knows, I might even buy gas there one day.