What are the characteristics of Ming and Qing architecture?

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many outstanding architectural works have been preserved to this day, such as palaces and temples in Beijing, gardens in the suburbs of Beijing, tombs of the two Dynasties, gardens in the south of the Yangtze River, pagodas, Taoist temples, houses and city walls all over the country, which have written another glorious chapter in the history of ancient architecture in China.

In urban construction, deeply influenced by feudal ethics, cities with economic center structure often learn from the spatial organization of cities with political center structure as an ideal model. However, the city wall is always broken in the most active position of the economy. The urban space design of economic center structure is very flexible, and the road space changes flexibly with the different properties of streets and lanes, either open or closed, or closed or put. The main space of the town is around the landmark area of the city, and the space is open. Some commercial and living facilities appear in the streets and lanes in the form of sketches, which become the focus of lots, such as wells, newsstands and so on. Beijing and Nanjingcheng are the most outstanding representatives of Ming and Qing cities.

In terms of mausoleum architecture, with the development of southern garden architecture art, the artistic style of Ming Dynasty cemetery architecture has made a great breakthrough compared with the previous generation, forming a relatively concentrated wooden structure complex from south to north. Most of the emperors' tombs after Ming Chengzu bypassed Beijing were concentrated in Tianshou Mountain in Beijing, collectively known as the Ming Tombs, which was the most outstanding artistic achievement among the Ming and Qing tombs. In order to admire the imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, restored the system of pre-built tombs and made major reforms to the system of tombs in the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties. First of all, the shape of the mausoleum was changed from a square in the Tang and Song Dynasties to a circle, so as to adapt to the rainy geographical climate in the south and facilitate the rain to flow down the river without infiltrating into the tomb. Therefore, great attention was paid to the sealing and anti-corrosion measures of coffins during this period, and the bodies in tombs were generally well preserved. Secondly, the cemetery architecture cancels the lower palace architecture, retains and expands the upper palace architecture, and correspondingly cancels the system of leaving the mausoleum to serve the dead. This is a major reform of the mausoleum system. It shows that with the development of society, the original superstitious way in the mausoleum is gradually abolished, and the sacrificial ceremony is more prominent.

Empresses and concubines have been banned from participating in politics since Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. This is reflected in the tomb system. Before Ming Yingzong, except for the queen who was buried in the mausoleum, most other concubines died of martyrdom. According to Records of the Li Dynasty, on the day of martyrdom, the martyr had to go to a banquet first and arrange a banquet in the palace. At this moment, they cried loudly. They were forced to stand on Xiao Mu's bed and put a rope around their necks. It was terrible. This cruel human sacrifice system was not abolished until after Ming Yingzong.

The protection of tombs in Ming Dynasty was stricter and more institutionalized than before. For example, people who plot to destroy mountains and tombs will be executed in the middle of the year, regardless of the mastermind's plot. Stealing ritual vessels, curtains and other things used to sacrifice to the great god will be beheaded; Shanling stole a tree and beheaded it, and was sent to exile by his family. In addition, in the Ming Dynasty, there was a special palace garrison, which was responsible for the safety of the mausoleum, as well as guarding the exterior of the mausoleum. It was really a strict barrier.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, except the last emperor Puyi, ten emperors built large-scale cemeteries in Zunhua County and Yixian County, Hebei Province. Because these two cemeteries are 0/00 miles away from the east and west of Beijing, they are called "Qing Dongling" and "Qing Xiling", which are the largest and most well-preserved imperial tombs in China. Their exquisite architectural art is a precious historical and cultural heritage.

The regulations of Qing Dongling Mausoleum and Qing Xiling Mausoleum basically followed the Ming Dynasty, but the difference was that a crescent city was added to the mausoleum. In addition, among the Ming Tombs, only Changling has a "Shengde Shen Gong Monument", while the East and West Tombs in the Qing Dynasty have several passes. Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the layout of the cemetery has also developed to a more mature stage. From south to north, it consists of stone statues, large archways, large and small stone bridges, dragon and phoenix gates, small stele pavilions, kitchens, east and west rooms, Long 'en Gate, east and west annex halls, Long 'en Hall, glazed doors and other buildings. The gardens of the queen and concubines are usually attached to each mausoleum.

The theory of gardening developed greatly in Ming and Qing Dynasties. At the end of Ming Dynasty, the book "Garden Metallurgy" written by Ji Cheng, a native of Wujiang, came out, which is a summary of the gardening art in Jiangnan area in Ming Dynasty. This book systematically discusses many specific artistic techniques in gardens, such as space treatment, overlapping mountains and water management, garden architectural design, arrangement of flowers and trees, etc. The ideas and gardening techniques mentioned in the book, such as "adapting to local conditions" and "although people make it, it is natural", provide theoretical basis for Chinese gardening art.

The greatest achievement of Ming and Qing architecture is in the field of gardens. The general layout of the royal gardens and private gardens, some are processed and reconstructed on the basis of natural landscapes, and some are built by manual excavation. These buildings are magnificent, colorful and luxurious, forming another climax in the history of China gardens. The prosperity of royal gardens depends on two factors: on the one hand, the feudal emperors at this time fully accepted the aesthetic taste and gardening theory of private gardens in the south of the Yangtze River, so most large royal gardens were built in suburbs separated from the palace. In the Qing dynasty, some emperors not only handled state affairs in gardens or palaces all the year round, but even euphemistically called "avoiding noise and listening to politics". On the other hand, the imperial garden pursues grandeur and imperial power, which leads to the rigid mode of "garden in garden". At the same time, due to the grand overall momentum, it is bound to require the layout of some single buildings with huge volume and complex buildings, and often bring a relatively clear axis relationship or several well-defined axis relationships into the original gardening management mode that emphasizes the unique style of depending on the mountain, making royal gardens different from private gardens. The private gardens in the south of the Yangtze River in Ming Dynasty and the royal gardens in the north of Qing Dynasty are the most artistic ancient buildings.

Palace gardens in Ming and Qing dynasties, especially in Qing dynasty, not only inherited the characteristics of gardens in previous dynasties, but also made new development. It is characterized by multiple functions, such as listening to politics, watching drama, living, resting, visiting gardens, reading, receiving congratulations, praying, chanting Buddha, watching and hunting, planting exotic flowers and trees, etc. For example, the famous Yuanmingyuan, where even the scenes of commercial streets are located, can be said to include all the activities of the emperor. Another feature is the large number of buildings, especially in the Qing Dynasty, the garden art decoration was luxurious, the building scale was large and solemn, and the garden layout was mostly in the garden. In the overall layout of landscape architecture, great attention is paid to the control and main role of landscape architecture and the title of scenic spots.

In terms of artistic style, the gardening art in Qing Dynasty achieved another leap on the basis of inheriting the tradition. The famous gardens in this period, such as the Summer Palace, Beihai, Summer Resort and Yuanmingyuan, have reached an amazing level in site selection, conception, borrowing scenery, architectural layout and landscape frame technology, rockery technology, plant configuration and even garden road laying. The Summer Palace was the first royal garden in Qing Dynasty. On the basis of imitating the characteristics of South West Lake, Jichang Garden and Suzhou Water Town, this royal garden controls the whole garden with a large number of buildings and their main axes, which highlights the will of "making the whole world king". Its true natural landscape, broad spatial composition techniques, skillful garden art skills and tortuous garden landscape design have become the precious heritage of China's classical garden culture and art, and Beihai has developed on the basis of inheriting the tradition of "one pool and three mountains". Qionghua Island in Beihai is a replica of Penglai, so Qionghua Island in the morning fog often gives people the feeling of being in another country. The summer resort is built on the basis of natural beauty. Therefore, the style of the whole villa is simple and elegant, and more than ten groups of mountain garden buildings are examples of building houses because of mountains. Yuanmingyuan is a multi-storey landscape structure, which gathers royal gardens on the flat ground and makes use of rich water sources to dig pools and pile mountains. In addition, Yuanmingyuan also introduced western gardening art and technology for the first time.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Lamaism architecture in Tibet and Mongolia further developed on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty. For a time, Lamaism temples were widely built in Mongolia, Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai and other places, with eleven in Chengde alone. These temples are large-scale, exquisitely made and diverse in shape, breaking the single style of the original temple architectural tradition and creating colorful architectural forms. Because of some relatively complete and qualitative decorative techniques, temple buildings have some artistic features: thick walls, large partitions, small windows, magnificent buildings, and a large number of horizontal ribbons on cornices and walls, giving people a multi-level feeling. These features add a sense of scale to the building artistically. In terms of color and decoration, the contrast method is adopted. The churches and towers are painted in white, the Buddhist temples are painted in red, the white walls are painted with black window frames, and the red walls are painted with white and brown ribbons. Roof parts and decorative belts are decorated with gold plating, or the roof is gilded. The sharp contrast between these decorations and colors helps to highlight the importance of religious buildings. The Lama Temple in Beijing and a number of Tibetan Buddhist temples in Chengde are typical examples.

Islamic architecture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was represented by the worship temple in Uighur and Mazha. There are many kinds of Uygur architectural decoration, the most prominent of which is the combination of tile decoration, gypsum flower decoration, color painting and window sash. The combination of window sashes mostly adopts various exquisite geometric patterns and the comprehensive application of various decorations, forming a gorgeous and meticulous artistic atmosphere.

In terms of decorative techniques, Ming and Qing architecture has become mature and procedural in decoration. The eaves tend to shrink, and the depth of the eaves is slightly deeper than the actual eaves, thus continuing to maintain the floating feeling of the roof of China buildings. The base of the house is very standard and exquisite. In royal buildings and temple buildings, white marble pedestals and railings, supplemented by exquisite carvings, are very beautiful. The form of the roof tends to be rigorous and procedural. The elegant and unique roof form made at both ends of the mansion in Tang and Song Dynasties (similar to the rest-hill style in Qing Dynasty) became a well-regulated rest-hill roof, and the curve treatment of the roof of the Temple of Heaven was softer. A large number of hard mountain houses were built, which was the result of a large number of masonry structures in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and also enriched the architectural modeling forms. The specifications and styles of glazed tiles are often programmed. Glazed tiles are divided into "ten types" according to specifications, which match different building specifications and volumes. In terms of color, in addition to simple yellow glazed tiles and green glazed tiles, there are also green-edged yellow tiles, or yellow-edged green tiles, green-hearted yellow tiles and green-hearted yellow tiles. There are blue glazed tiles, black glazed tiles and other tiles with different colors, which make the appearance of the building more diverse.

To sum up, because Nanjing was founded in the early Ming Dynasty, it mainly relied on craftsmen from the south of the Yangtze River, and Yongle moved its capital to Beijing. The construction of Beijing Palace mainly relied on craftsmen from the south. Therefore, the architecture of the Ming Dynasty is rigorous, beautiful, exquisite and elegant, with the style of Jiangnan art, and the official architecture is highly standardized and stereotyped. The output of bricks has greatly increased, and the quantity and quality of glazed tiles have surpassed that of any previous dynasty. The main part of the house, that is, the part that can often get sunshine, is generally warmer, especially vermilion; For shaded areas, use cool shades of green and blue. This emphasizes the warmth of the sun and the shade of the shadow, forming a pleasing contrast. Generally, civil residential buildings mostly use blue-gray brick walls and tile roofs, and beams, doors and windows mostly use natural wood, which is very elegant.

China architecture formed the last mature style in Qing Dynasty, which is elegant, rigorous, elegant, with clear mechanism and rich human touch. Its characteristic is that the city is still square in specifications, but the closed alleys and markets in the city have become open streets, shops are facing the street, and the market looks lively; There are many scenic spots in or around the city, and there are many places for citizens to visit; Important buildings are completely stereotyped and standardized, but the group order forms are diverse and the methods are rich; A large number of private and royal family forests have appeared, the gardening art has flourished unprecedentedly, and the gardening technology has finally matured; The quality and artistic level of folk buildings and buildings in ethnic minority areas have generally improved, forming a variety of styles of various regions and ethnic groups.