How to understand the differences between Chinese and western architectural aesthetic values

1, differences in building materials

Fundamentally speaking, the difference between Chinese and western architectural art comes from the difference of materials: traditional western architecture has long been dominated by stone; Traditional oriental architecture has always been framed by wood. Different building materials provide different possibilities for their own architectural art. Before the emergence of modern architecture, all mature building systems in the world, including Indian buildings belonging to oriental architecture, were basically built with masonry as the main building material, belonging to masonry structure system. For example, the pyramids in Egypt, the temples in ancient Greece, the Colosseum and aqueduct in ancient Rome, and the churches in medieval Europe were all built of stones, which are historical witnesses left in this "Stone History Book". Although both Chinese and western ancient buildings originated from wooden structures, it has been proved by a large number of human archaeological discoveries. However, buildings in China (including neighboring Japan and South Korea) have always had a soft spot for civil engineering. Traditional architecture still adopts the beam-frame structure system with wood structure as the main structure, which maintains the original wood structure and long-term consistency and continuity, making China's architecture skillfully use wood, give full play to the decorative nature of wood, and write a beautiful movement with civil engineering. Therefore, it is known as "the history book of wood".

Different building materials, different cultures and societies make Chinese and western ancient architecture have different artistic expressions. Different nationalities have different cultures and show different emotions; Different materials create different buildings and show different beliefs. The artistic style of western classical architecture focuses on the beauty of confrontation between man and nature. Stone, concrete and other building materials are hard and cold in texture, rational in color and lacking in human touch. China traditional architecture pays special attention to "linear beauty", pays attention to the smoothness, flow and rhythm of lines, and is good at modeling with lines and expressing feelings with lines. The use of wooden beams and columns in traditional buildings in China can just adapt to the artistic appeal of this "line". Therefore, the traditional architecture in China, whether it is the outline of a single building or the skyline of a group building, has something in common with China's paintings.

2. Differences in architectural shapes.

Different from western stone buildings, China's traditional modeling especially emphasizes "linear beauty" and pays attention to the smoothness of lines, thus constructing various cornices. It can be said that cornice design is a bright pearl in China classical architecture. Different forms of cornices often have different artistic effects, either light, simple or dignified. In Epang Palace, Fu's "cloister has a waist and a high eaves and teeth; Each holds its own terrain and intrigues against each other "is the true reappearance of cornices." The four masters of classical architecture in China-pavilions, terraces, buildings and pavilions-all use cornices to identify themselves and express their feelings, and the height and length of cornices often become the difficulty and focus in architectural design.

On the other hand, western architecture generally develops vertically and is built tall and big. For example, the Colosseum in Romarie Shim is 48 meters high and the Pantheon is 43.5 meters high. In the medieval Hagia Sophia, the dome of its central hall was 60 meters above the ground. St Peter's Cathedral is the most brilliant work in Renaissance architecture, with a height of137m. They use exaggerated shapes and shocking scales to show the eternity and sublimity of architecture, so as to reflect human strength. In western classical architecture, minarets and independent memorial columns can be seen everywhere. Of course, these buildings in Zhuang reflect the westerners' enthusiasm for worshipping gods, and even more, they give people a spiritual force to strive for progress with advanced scientific and technological achievements.

3. Express differences in ethical awareness.

Classical garden architecture is the most representative of traditional architecture in China. Influenced by Confucianism, the pursuit and preference of literati influenced gardening. Therefore, the traditional gardens in China are literati gardens in practical sense. In the differences of ontological understanding, they always pay attention to the aesthetic principle of "vivid charm" and the overall harmony.

Emphasize the harmonious relationship between man and nature and between people. Therefore, the artistic style of China traditional architecture is based on the beauty of "harmony". Laozi's Tao Te Ching says, "Man should follow the laws of the earth, the earth should follow the laws of heaven, and heaven should follow the laws of nature." These thoughts of Laozi represent the ancient people's concept of nature worship, but they have obvious meaning of harmony between man and nature, and have also influenced the traditional architecture in China. Although China's architecture in the pre-Qin period once had magnificent masculine beauty, under the influence of Confucian "neutralization" thought, after the Han Dynasty, especially since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, China's traditional architecture gradually moved towards "harmony" and implicit beauty. The combination of closed internal space, complex architectural sequence, euphemistic and soothing architectural rhythm and dignified and natural architectural decoration design gives people a cordial, warm, comfortable and cozy aesthetic psychological feeling.

The artistic style of western architecture pays attention to the beauty of confrontation between man and nature. From the perspective of historical development, the west regards nature as an inanimate substance. Before the Middle Ages, Christianity even banned travel. What they see more is the violent and dangerous side of nature. The temples and shrines standing proudly everywhere show a kind of opposition and conquest with nature, which has aroused people's aesthetic feelings such as surprise, excitement and terror. Take Gothic architecture as an example. It is characterized by high, straight and sharp. The tall figure is thin and light because of flying arch. The towering pointed arches interrupt the horizontal framework, and they push forward from bottom to top, like rolling waves, pushing up layer by layer until the spire, leading people's spirit to heaven with shocking power, and pinning Christians' desire and yearning for heaven. At the same time, it also highlights the publicity of individual characteristics of architecture. They spare no effort to show their own style charm, which reflects the emphasis on subject consciousness and individual concept in western traditional culture.

In addition, western traditional architecture has always followed the law of formal beauty, which is unified, balanced, symmetrical and in line with the law. Therefore, most of its architectural styles reflect its "artificial beauty" of transcending and controlling nature, which is in obvious contrast with the beauty of China traditional architecture that emphasizes the integration with nature.

cause

1, physical geographical differences

Due to the natural environment in the west, especially in ancient Greece and Rome, where there are many exposed rocks and trees, especially the geological factors of rocks, traditional western architecture embodies a stone-based style, that is, cold, hard, thick, huge and huge stones are mainly used to pursue a tall, powerful, mysterious, majestic and shocking effect, reflecting a religious spirit of abandoning the world. In ancient Central Plains, there were many trees, which made it easy to use local materials. In addition, it is relatively difficult to find and carry stones suitable for building in the Central Plains, so buildings are mainly made of wood. In addition, European peoples in the Mediterranean, such as Greece, have a Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and rainy winters. The inharmonious combination of barren land and natural factors such as light, heat, water and soil makes their life at sea more important than that on land. In addition, life at sea often struggles with violent wind and waves, resulting in ideas such as "Heaven and Man are separated" and "Man can conquer nature". This cultural concept is embodied in the architectural style. Compared with western traditional architecture, China traditional architecture pays more attention to the harmony with the natural environment, and its style is relatively peaceful and implicit.

2. Cultural differences

China people attach importance to overall harmony, the unity of opposites, and the harmonious relationship between man and nature and between people. China's traditional thought of harmony between man and nature is embodied in architecture, most notably the functional adaptability and spatial flexibility of China ancient architecture, which fully adapts to the changes of people's lives and integrates with people. Plus patios, courtyards, gardens, rows of windows, corridors? And the choice and arrangement of geomantic omen, the harmony between people, architectural space and nature. For example, traditional buildings in China attach importance to functional adaptability, and houses, academies, tea shops and hotels coexist at the same time to meet different needs. The idea of advocating nature is first manifested in China people's special aesthetic interest in China architecture. The aesthetic principle of peace and nature has been fully embodied in the garden design of China.

In the mainstream of western philosophical tradition, there is no harmony between man and nature, only mutual confrontation between you and me, which is almost one-sided. If China's traditional architectural space is attractive because of its lightness and beauty, then the space of western (European) ancient architecture is full of sense of order and geometric beauty. They try their best to constantly transform and conquer nature, so western architecture is very rationalistic. In addition, primitive European peoples living in the Mediterranean, such as Greece, are dry in summer and rainy in winter, with a Mediterranean climate and barren land, and the combination of natural factors such as light, heat, soil and water is not harmonious, which makes their life at sea more important than that on land. In addition, their life at sea often struggles with fierce wind and waves, so they have produced ideas such as "Heaven and Man are separated" and "Man can conquer nature". This cultural concept is embodied in the architectural style. Compared with western traditional architecture, China traditional architecture pays more attention to the harmony with the natural environment, and its style is relatively peaceful and implicit.

3. Difference of time and space combination.

Most scholars believe that the strong spatial consciousness of western culture is related to its specific physical and geographical background. The mixed farming economy and fishing activities of primitive residents in the west make westerners living here have a strong sense of geographical orientation and spatial layout, and it is very easy to have a strong sense of space. Therefore, most western buildings are planned radially from the center, and the center point is the church or square. They gradually got rid of isolated single design and accidental cooperation with each other, paid more attention to the integrity of architecture, and embodied the new spirit of facing new life during the Renaissance. However, the orientals living in the farming geographical environment work at sunrise and rest at sunset on the flat and continuous alluvial plain. Their lives are very regular and their work is quite orderly. Day after day, year after year, they live a cycle of rural life. Its single farming economic structure depends heavily on the changes of the four seasons, and people are prone to have a strong sense of time. This different view of time and space naturally affects the differences of architectural styles. Although the ancients in China did not ignore and obliterate the existence of space when they conceptually constructed their world view, the Chinese nation paid more attention to the movement form of space, that is, time, rather than thinking about the existence of space itself. People combine rocks, trees, ponds and buildings in nature to skillfully organize landscapes around the world in spring, summer, autumn and winter, thus achieving a natural artistic conception. For example, Suzhou gardens, Yuanmingyuan and other famous buildings are all like this.

To sum up, it is precisely because of the different cultural origins that different architectural cultural concepts, aesthetics and forms are created. Chinese and western ancient buildings have their own characteristics, which bring people different life styles, different psychological concepts and different aesthetic enjoyment. In the collision between Chinese and western cultures in modern times, we need to reflect on our own culture, inherit the excellent side of traditional culture and the positive factors of western culture, and then reshape our architectural concept and establish a new style with our own characteristics.