What is a wall?

Zhaobi is a unique part of the ancient traditional architecture in China, and it is a wall placed in front of the house.

Zhaobi can be located inside or outside the gate. The former is called the interior illuminated wall, and the latter is called the exterior illuminated wall. Shapes are zigzag, splayed, etc. , usually made of bricks, consists of three parts: seat, body and roof. There are sumeru seats and simple no seats.

The central area of the wall body is called the center of the zhaobi, which is usually made of square bricks with a 45-degree angle. A simple photo wall can be without decoration, but it must also be polished and sewn neatly. Luxury zhaobi is usually decorated with many brick carvings with auspicious patterns.

The brick carvings on the zhaobi mainly have four corners in the center and the central area, and there are also mixed owls and Julian at the intersection with the roof. The top surface of the central square brick is engraved with a central flower, and a brick plaque with the words "birthday" or a brick carving with auspicious meaning is embedded in the center of the zhaobi wall.

Extended data

In terms of form, there are five kinds of zhaobi:

One is the glazed wall, which is mainly used in palaces and temples. The most representative ones are the Forbidden City and the Kowloon Wall in Beihai.

The second type is brick carving, which appears in a large number of folk buildings and is the most important form of traditional wall viewing in China. Some are carved with stones, but they are extremely rare.

The third is the stone zhaobi. The iron zhaobi moved to Beihai Park is entirely carved with stone and rarely appears among the people.

The fourth is the wooden wall, which is generally rare, because it is difficult for wooden materials to withstand long-term wind and sun exposure.

The fifth kind of decorative wall, brick structure or adobe structure, the wall is completely covered with hemp ash, plain color, and some are also carved with brick patterns or characters, so there are not a few decorative walls.