Architectural Art of the Bai People

The Bai dwellings are a great landscape of Bai architectural art. Unlike the nomadic people, the Bai people have been engaged in rice-based agricultural production since ancient times. Settlement is the most important feature of the farming nation, so focusing on living conditions has become the most traditional way of life of the Bai. In the guest and indigenous mixed places, there used to be such a popular saying: said the Bai people are "big tile room, empty cavity cavity", the guest is "thatched roof, oil fragrance", meaning that the Bai people scrimp and save to the point of pouring out all their own money to build up a strong and comfortable residence, and the guest even if they are living in a simple thatched roof, but the food is not sloppy, thatched roof is often the smell of oil fragrance. In the old days, built a decent bit of housing, often become a white people spend their lives on the big event. Their pursuit of spacious and comfortable homes, family units into their own courtyard, in the function of accommodation, cooking, ancestor worship, reception of guests, food reserves, livestock and other roles. Marble head much, most of the Bai folk dwellings from local materials, widely used stone as the main building materials. Dali folk "Dali has three treasures, stone wall wall does not fall" proverb, referring to the characteristics of building materials. Stones are not only used for laying foundations and walls, but also for beams at the head of doors and windows. The characteristics of this material are inherited from the Nanzhao construction method. According to records, the Nanzhao residential construction is "alleys and lanes are all stone for the high more than ten feet high, stretching for miles and miles". From the courtyard layout, building structure and internal and external decoration and other basic styles, the Bai people live with the Central Plains residential architecture has a traditional inheritance. Due to the natural environment, aesthetic interest in the differences, the Bai people's homes and have their own obvious national style and local characteristics. Now take the Bai courtyard and Beijing courtyard as an example to make a general comparison, first of all, from the orientation of the main room, the main room of Beijing courtyard to sit in the north to face the south for the noble; while the main room of the Bai folk house is generally sitting in the west to the east, which is located in Dali from north to south of the Hengduan Mountains, the broom-shaped system of the valley formed by the dam features related to the mountains and water, necessarily sitting in the west to the east. Secondly, most of the housing in Beijing's courtyard houses are one-story bungalows, while the Bai folk houses are basically two-story. The layout and combination of the Bai folk houses are generally in the form of "one square and two ears", "two rooms and one ear", "three houses and one wall", "four houses and five patios", "six contracts and spring" and "horseback corner building", etc. What form is adopted is determined by the owner's personal style. What form, by the owner of the economic conditions and the size of the family, the population decided. Most of the doors of Bai dwellings are open in the northeast corner, the door can not go straight to the yard, must be covered with walls, covered walls are generally written on the word "Fu". White all buildings, including ordinary houses, are inseparable from the exquisite carvings, paintings and decorations. Wooden carvings are mostly used in the lattice doors, horizontal ponchos, boards and trains of buildings, as well as in the heads of jugglers and hanging pillars. There are various kinds of animal and plant motifs, such as scrolling grass, flying dragons, bats, rabbits, etc., which can be styled in a variety of ways and used freely. There are a lot of symbolic meaning, such as "golden lion hanging hydrangea", "unicorn looking at the banana", "phoenix with pearl", "autumn chrysanthemum peace" and so on the interesting pattern works. Bai wood carvers are also particularly good at making exquisite three to five layers of "through the leakage carving", multi-layered landscape figures, birds, flowers, insects and fish are expressed vividly."" Powder wall painting wall" is also a major feature of the white building decoration. Brick columns and bricks of the wall are brushed grey hook joints, whitewashed walls, eaves painted with different widths, decorated with colorful decorative bands. With a variety of geometric arrangements "flower space" for birds, flowers, landscapes, calligraphy and other literati paintings, showing a fresh and elegant mood. Rich in decorative doorway can illustrate a comprehensive performance of the Bai architectural patterns. Generally use the temple and pavilion modeling, flying eaves string of corners, and then clay, wood carvings, paintings, stone carvings, marble screen, convex flower bricks and other combinations of colorful three-dimensional patterns, appearing opulent and magnificent, without losing the overall style of simple and generous. The Bai people emphasize the elegance and cleanliness of the residential environment. Most people's patios are generally built with flower beds, planted with a few camellia, maenggai, danggui, pomegranate, rafters and other trees and fruit trees. Orchids and other potted flowers are placed along the edges of the flower beds or in the eaves. Planting flowers is a traditional virtue of the Bai people.