Architecture of Chinese residential buildings

Dwelling buildings, also known as folk dwellings, are found throughout China. Residential buildings are the most basic type of buildings, the earliest, the most widely distributed and the most numerous group of buildings. Due to the different natural environment and humanities in each region of China, the residential buildings in each region also show a diversified appearance.

The mainstream of traditional houses in the Han region of China is the regular type of residence, which is typified by the Beijing courtyard, which is laid out in a symmetrical manner on the central axis. Beijing courtyard houses are divided into two courtyards, the main house in the center is the most respected system, which is the place for holding family rituals and receiving honored guests, and each house is facing the courtyard and connected by a veranda. Although the Beijing courtyard is a concrete manifestation of the patriarchal concepts and family system of feudal society in China in terms of residential architecture, the courtyard is square and wide, with a suitable scale, quiet and friendly, and the flowers and trees are well-organized, which makes it a very ideal outdoor living space. North China, Northeast China, most of the residential area is this spacious courtyard.

Southern China's homes are more compact, more buildings, their typical homes are centered on a small area of rectangular patio as the center of the hall. Square as a seal in appearance and plain and simple, these dwellings are widely distributed in the southern provinces.

The Hakka people in southern Fujian, northern Guangdong and northern Gui often live in large group houses, whose plan is both round and square, consisting of a single-story building hall in the center and four- and five-story buildings around it, and which are highly defensive, as represented by the Hakka Tulou houses in Yongding County, Fujian. Among China's traditional dwellings, the Hakka Tulou in Yongding is unique, with more than 8,000 square, round, octagonal and oval shaped Tulou***, large in scale and beautiful in shape, both scientific and practical and distinctive, constituting a marvelous world of dwellings.

Fujian Tulou is built with local soil, gravel, and wood chips into a single house, which is then connected into a large house, and then built up into a heavy and closed "defensive" castle-style architectural residence - Tulou. Earthen Buildings are strong, safe, closed and have a strong clan character. Inside the building, there are wells and granaries, so that in case of war or banditry, the door will be closed and the building will be self-contained, and in case of siege, the building will be able to provide food and water for several months. In addition to the characteristics of warmth in winter and coolness in summer, earthquake-proof and wind-resistant, Tulou has become the residence of the Hakka people who have been inherited from generation to generation and have prospered. Kiln caves and ancient city dwellings

China has a wide area and many nationalities, and the forms, structures, decorative arts, and color tones of dwellings in different places have their own characteristics. Here, we will mainly introduce the distinctive northern kilns and dwellings in ancient cities.

Northern China, the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River in the area of more kiln-style homes, in Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, Shanxi and other loess areas, local residents in the natural earth wall cut horizontal holes, and often several holes connected, in the hole with masonry, building kilns. Kilns are fireproof, noise-proof, warm in winter and cool in summer, land-saving, economical and labor-saving, and organically combining the natural and living scenes, which is a perfect form of construction adapted to local conditions and permeated with people's love and attachment to the loess land.

In addition, there are also well-preserved ancient cities in China, which contain a large number of ancient dwellings. Among them, Pingyao Ancient City in Shanxi Province and Lijiang Ancient City in Yunnan Province were both inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998.

Pingyao Ancient City is the most complete surviving ancient county town of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and is a typical representative of the ancient county towns of the Han Chinese Central Plains. To date, the city's walls, streets, dwellings, stores, temples and other buildings are still largely intact, and its architectural pattern and style features remain largely untouched. Pingyao is a living specimen for the study of China's political, economic, cultural, military, architectural and artistic historical development.

Built in the Southern Song Dynasty, Lijiang Ancient City is the only town that combines the traditional architecture of the Naxi ethnic group and foreign architectural features. Lijiang Ancient City was not influenced by the architectural rituals of the Central Plains, and the road network in the city was irregular, with no strict city walls. The Black Dragon Pool is the main water source of the ancient city, the pool water is divided into strips of thin flow into the wall around the household, forming a water network, the ancient city can be seen everywhere in the river and canal water murmuring, the river willows brush the water. Southern free-form residential

Free-form residential refers to the form of the courtyard is not used, the overall composition and monomer modeling are very free of residential, mainly distributed in the southern countryside and small towns, mostly used by the lower middle class.

Most of the free-style houses are small in scale, pay special attention to the rational use of space, do not place special emphasis on the system of law and order, and all the distinction between inferiority and superiority and affinity which is particularly valued in other houses is not valued too much here, and the design idea is close to functionalism. However, they still pursue the perfection of modeling, because they are free from the constraints of the ritual system, the idea of liberation, the combination of flexible, so more diverse. Free-style residential modeling is characterized by: 1, most of the plane and the roof are connected to a building, the use of a variety of techniques to create a rich space for the internal up and down, left and right can go through, and outwardly open and exposed, without the courtyard wall, and nature into one; 2, the form of free, do not want to be regular and symmetrical. Or the slope of the house before the small after the big, or building and cottage adjoining, or part of the roof and high for the attic, or in the outer wall of a local pick out of the overhanging building, covered with eaves; plane has a zigzag, zigzag shape, or a variety of shapes that do not have a name for it. The internal space is full of changes, often under the roof board for the attic, attic or in the front slope, back slope, or in the middle. The ground level varies with the elevation of the base, and different rooms can have high and low levels, and the same room may not be in the same plane, or the number of floors on one side and the other side of the house is different. In short, compared with the regular type of residential, treatment of no preconceived ideas, based entirely on the site, the most varied wonderful; 3, these changes are mostly used called "through the bucket frame" a folk lightweight frame to complete, only some simple processing, can be tricky changes, showing a great deal of flexibility; 4, the material used are 4, the materials used are the most readily available and economical products of the local community, with small green tiles or thatched roofs, small green bricks, fence plastering, wooden planks, stones, stones or mud to build the walls. The wood is not colored, and the wall is plastered, which is used as it suits, forming a natural contrast of color, texture, and texture. The natural exposure of wooden structures on the wall surface reveals the beauty of its structural interlacing, and another kind of simple and naive interest. China's garden architecture has a long history and is renowned in the history of the world's gardens. More than 3,000 years ago in the Zhou Dynasty, China had the earliest palace gardens. Since then, China's capital city and the local famous cities have built gardens, Chinese city gardens colorful, in the world's three major garden system occupies a glorious position.

The Chinese gardens, which are mainly landscape gardens, are unique in style, with flexible and changeable layouts, integrating artificial beauty with natural beauty to form a marvelous effect of ingenious workmanship. These garden buildings originate from nature but are higher than nature, hidden buildings in the landscape, elevating natural beauty to a higher realm.

Chinese garden architecture, including the grand royal gardens and exquisite private gardens, these buildings will be the landscape terrain, flowers, plants and trees, courtyards, bridges and couplings plaques and other exquisite layout, so that the mountains, rocks and water everywhere, the mood, the meaning of the infinite. The realm of Chinese gardens is roughly divided into the realm of the world, the realm of the gods, the natural realm of three.

Chinese Confucianism in the practical, a high sense of social responsibility, the importance of moral and ethical values and political significance of the ideas reflected in the garden landscape is the realm of governance, this realm is mostly seen in the Royal Garden, the famous Royal Garden Yuanmingyuan about half of the attractions reflect this realm.

The realm of the immortals refers to the construction of gardens with romanticism as the aesthetic, focusing on the expression of Chinese Taoist thought in the pursuit of natural tranquility and cultivation of the body and mind, this realm in the royal gardens and temple gardens are reflected in, such as the Yuanmingyuan in the Pengdao Yaotai, the Qingcheng Mountain in Sichuan Province, the ancient Taoist temple, Wudang Mountain, Hubei Province, such as the South Rock Palace.

The natural realm focuses on the writing, focusing on the expression of the garden owner's feelings, this realm is mostly reflected in the literati gardens, such as the Canglang Pavilion of Su Shunqin in the Song Dynasty, Sima Guang's Duluo Park and so on.

The difference between Chinese and Western gardens lies in the fact that Western gardens emphasize geometrical and mathematical principles and focus on architecture, while Chinese gardens focus on the natural landscape and the viewer's feelings, paying more attention to the unity of man and nature.

Suzhou Gardens

Suzhou's classical gardens, which were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997, are a concentrated expression of the artistic characteristics of Chinese garden architecture. The history of Suzhou gardens stretches over 2,000 years, and more than ten famous gardens exist. Most of the gardens in Suzhou cover a small area, the use of infinite changes, unconventional artistic techniques, with the Chinese landscape flowers and birds of interest, the mood of the Tang and Song poems, in the limited space embellished with rockery, trees, arranging pavilions, pavilions, ponds and bridges, to create a small to see the big artistic effect. Among them, the famous garden buildings are Canglang Pavilion, Lion Grove, Humble Administrator's Garden, Liouyuan and so on.

Yuanmingyuan

China's most famous royal gardens, the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens," known as the Yuanmingyuan in Beijing, set different styles of garden art in different parts of China, and borrowed some of the Western architectural style, the garden building ingenious, although the form of the different and interesting. The gorgeous Yuanmingyuan was burned down by the invading British and French forces in 1860, and people can only imagine the former splendor of this famous garden on the broken tiles and ruins.

The ruins of the Yuanmingyuan are in the northwest suburbs of Beijing. Generally known as the Yuanmingyuan, including its two attached garden Changchunyuan and Qichunyuan (Wanchunyuan), so also known as the "Yuanming three gardens". It is the northwest suburbs of Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, five separate from the Palace that is "three mountains and five gardens" (Xiangshan Jingyi Park, Yuquan Mountain Jingmingyuan, Wanshoushan Qingyiyuan, Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan) in the largest one, with an area of 347 hectares.

Yuanmingyuan was not only one of the most outstanding palaces in China at that time, Emperor Qianlong called it "the area of heavenly treasures, the emperor's tour of the place of no more than this", and also through the introduction of missionary letters, reports and became famous in Europe, the 18th century on the development of the European natural landscape garden had a certain impact. Palace buildings, also known as court buildings, is the emperor in order to consolidate their rule, highlighting the majesty of the imperial power, to meet the enjoyment of spiritual and material life and the construction of large-scale, majestic buildings. These buildings are mostly gold and jade, majestic.

From the Qin Dynasty onwards, the "Palace" became the place where the emperor and the royal family lived, and the palace became the place where the emperor dealt with government. The scale of Chinese palace buildings increased in later years, typically characterized by large arches, golden glazed tiles, brilliant paintings, delicately carved ceiling wells, alabaster pedestals, balustrades, beams and columns, as well as the surrounding architectural vignettes. Taihe Temple of the Forbidden City in Beijing is a typical palace building.

In order to reflect the supremacy of imperial power, the performance of the hierarchical concept of imperial power as the core, the ancient Chinese palace buildings to take a strictly symmetrical layout of the central axis: the central axis of the building is tall and gorgeous, the axis on both sides of the building is relatively low and simple. As the Chinese system of ritual thought contains a reverence for ancestors, promote filial piety and heavy grains, sacrifices to the land God's content, China's palaces are usually set up in front of the left Temple of Ancestors (also known as the Imperial ancestral temple) for the emperor to worship ancestors, right in front of the altar of the Jikji for the emperor to sacrifice to the God of the land and food God (the community for the land, the Jikji for the food), this pattern is known as the "left ancestor of the right community ". Ancient palace buildings themselves are also divided into two parts, namely, "before the dynasty after the bedchamber": "before the dynasty" is the emperor went to the court to rule, where the grand ceremony, "after the bedchamber" is the emperor and consorts live life.

The Forbidden City is divided into two parts, the former part of the emperor held major ceremonies, issued orders, the main buildings are the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Peace, the Hall of Baohe. These buildings are built in alabaster on the 8-meter-high pedestal, from a distance, as if the myth of the Qiong Palace of Immortality, the architectural image of a serious, solemn, magnificent, majestic, the interior of the three halls are decorated with gold and blue. The Forbidden City after a part of the - "inner court" is the emperor to deal with political affairs and consorts live in, this part of the main building of the Qianqing Palace, Kuning Palace, the Royal Garden, etc. are rich in the rich flavor of life, the building more than including gardens, lounges, pavilions, rocks, etc., they are self-contained courtyard. are self-contained courtyard.

As a result of dynastic changes and war, China's ancient palace buildings have not survived much, existing in addition to the Forbidden City in Beijing, there is the Shenyang Imperial Palace, in addition, Xi'an, Xi'an, there are still a few Han and Tang Dynasty palace ruins. Temple is one of the Chinese Buddhist architecture. Originating in India, temple architecture has flourished in China since the Northern Wei Dynasty. These buildings record the development of culture and the rise and fall of religion in feudal China, and have important historical and artistic value.

The ancient Chinese had a deep cosmic view of yin and yang and an aesthetic psychology of symmetry, order and stability in their architectural patterns. Therefore, the Chinese Buddhist temple incorporates the unique Chinese function of worshiping ancestors, heaven and earth, and is still a square plan, north-south axis layout, symmetrical and stable and rigorous architectural groups. In addition, Buddhist temples with garden-style architectural patterns are also more common in China. These two artistic pattern makes the Chinese temple both elegant and solemn temple atmosphere, but also very rich in natural interest, and far-reaching context.

White Horse Temple in Luoyang

Built during the Han Dynasty, the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, Henan Province, was the earliest officially built Buddhist temple in China. The temple is rectangular in shape and covers an area of about 40,000 square meters. The construction of the White Horse Temple strongly promoted the development of Buddhism in China and East and Southeast Asia. As a result, the White Horse Monastery is still a holy place of worship for Buddhists from many countries.

Yuanjiashan: also known as Little Penglai and Lvzu Temple, in the historical and cultural city of Suixian County, Henan Province, it is a rare ship-shaped architectural complex of the Ming Dynasty in the whole country, which is a key cultural relics protection unit of Henan Province, built by Yuan Keli, a minister of military affairs in the Ming Dynasty, and is a famous Taoist resort in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Buddhist Architecture in Wutai Mountain

Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province is a famous Buddhist shrine in China, with as many as 58 ancient Buddhist buildings preserved on the mountain, among which the more famous temple buildings include Nanchan Temple and Buddha's Light Temple, which were built in the Tang Dynasty. Nanchan Temple is China's earliest surviving wooden temple building; Foguang Temple in the architectural collection of China's various periods of architectural form, the temple's architecture, statues, murals and ink is known as the "four best".

Hanging Temple of Hengshan Mountain

Worth mentioning is also worth mentioning the Hanging Temple of Hengshan Mountain, Beiyue Mountain in Shanxi Province, which is a temple erected in the air, up against the dangerous rocks, down below the deep valley, the shape of the unique, is extremely rare architecture. Hanging Temple is located in Hunyuan County, 3.5 kilometers south of the west side of the Jinlong Canyon wall on the mountainside, is China's only existing wooden buildings built on the cliff. It was built in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and has been repaired in Tang, Jin, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The entire building facing Mount Heng, backed by the Cui Ping, wall rock without steps, high buildings to look up, is the first wonders of Mount Heng in the North Yue.

Potala Palace

Lamaism is a school of Chinese Buddhism, Lamaism temple architecture is characterized by the Buddha Hall, high hall, building more based on the mountain and building. The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet is a typical Lamaist temple building. Built in the Tang Dynasty, the Potala Palace has been repaired and added to over the years, forming a huge architectural complex. The entire palace building according to the mountain stacked, brilliant and spectacular, its floor space of more than 20,000 square meters, there are more than 20 halls, the main hall is enshrined in the precious Sakyamuni 12 years old equilateral gold-plated bronze statue. Potala Palace has a typical Tang Dynasty architectural style, but also absorbed the architectural art of Nepal and India.

In addition, Chengde "outside the eight temples" and Beijing Yonghe Palace, are also famous Lamaism building. Mausoleum architecture is an important part of ancient Chinese architecture. Based on the concept that the soul is immortal after death, the ancient Chinese generally attached importance to burial, and therefore, mausoleums were elaborately constructed regardless of any class. In the long process of history, China's mausoleum architecture has been a great development, produced a rare, huge ancient emperor and queen of the tomb group; and in the process of historical evolution, the mausoleum architecture and painting, calligraphy, sculpture and other art schools into one, become a reflection of a variety of artistic achievements of the complex.

The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, located at the northern foot of Mount Li in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, is the most famous mausoleum in China, built more than 2,000 years ago. The Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang, known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World", are the "troops" guarding the tomb. The Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang, with their grandeur, sculpture and craftsmanship, were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987. The World Heritage Committee commented that the famous terracotta warriors that surrounded the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, along with their horses, chariots and weapons, were perfect masterpieces of realism, while retaining a high degree of historical value.

The neighborhood of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, is home to a relatively high concentration of imperial tombs in China, including the tombs of 11 emperors of the Western Han Dynasty and 18 emperors of the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang. One of the Han Emperor Liu Che's mausoleum is the largest of the Western Han mausoleums, buried treasure is also the most; Zhaoling mausoleum is the Tang Emperor Li Shimin's mausoleum, the mausoleum area is very large, there are also 17 burials in the park, Zhaoling ground and underground are valuable cultural relics, the most famous is the Tang Dynasty carving boutique "six steed figure".

Ming and Qing Imperial Tombs

The Ming and Qing Imperial Tombs are the most well-preserved tombs of the Chinese emperors.

The mausoleums of the Ming emperors are mainly located in Changping, Beijing, known as the Thirteen Mausoleums, a group of 13 emperors' mausoleums after the Ming dynasty set its capital at Beijing, which is situated in a small basin surrounded by mountains on three sides and opening to the south under Tianshoushan Mountain, north of Changping County, Beijing. The mausoleums of these emperors are staggered on the slopes within the small basin, covering an area of 40 square kilometers. Inside the mausoleum area*** are buried 13 emperors, 23 empresses and numerous concubines, imperial sons, princesses and courtesans buried in clusters.

Thirteen Ming Tombs is grand and magnificent in scale, the scenery is pale and majestic, is the most concentrated and complete mausoleum complex existing in China. One of the most magnificent scale is the Changling Mausoleum (Ming Emperor Zhu Di) and Dingling Mausoleum (Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun). The excavation found that the Dingling mausoleum stone arch structure is solid, surrounded by good drainage equipment, water is very little, none of the stone arch collapsed, which fully demonstrates the Chinese ancient people to build underground construction of high technology.

China's existing mausoleum architecture in the most ambitious scale, the most complete architectural system of the royal mausoleum - Qing East Mausoleum covers an area of 78 square kilometers, in which buried five emperors of the Qing Dynasty, 14 empresses, more than a hundred concubines. The main mausoleum buildings in the Qing East Mausoleum are beautiful and spectacular, extremely elaborate.

The significance of the existence of mausoleums

The 5,000 years of civilization of the Chinese nation has left behind for the modern era a considerable number of ancient monuments, relics and ancient materials. Mausoleums in China's ancient architectural heritage is a relatively rich, well-preserved category, which contains a large number of ancient art treasures, while the mausoleum building itself is also a comprehensive expression of ancient art and technical level. Ancient Chinese mausoleums is a prominent feature of the deliberate pursuit of the mountains and rivers of the natural situation of perfection, carefully explore the beauty of the natural landscape and the beauty of the organic combination of humanistic landscape. The formation of this feature has a strong cultural roots, fully embodies the ancient Chinese ideological and cultural framework, a comprehensive reflection of the ancient people's view of the environment, architecture, aesthetics, ethics and so on.