On Traditional Building Materials of Rural Dwellings in Northern China

Modern: Brick, sand, stone, cement, wood, ceramic tile, precast or cast-in-place concrete slab and steel bar are equivalent to urban buildings.

Ancient times or before:

Bricks (as now)

Reed and its products (basic moisture-proof layer and roof insulation)

Wood (purlins, columns, doors and windows)

Adobe (wall, foundation)

White plaster (plastering and wall building)

Mud and thatch (and concrete walls and roofs)

Tiles (roof and walls waterproof)

Sorghum knot (roof insulation, etc. )

Sorghum pulp (sorghum ears removed) or reeds are stuck on the wall to prevent mud houses from being washed away by rain.

Bricks (the same as palace bricks, but with poor quality and texture) have been laid on the ground, and modernity has disappeared.