Briefly describe the development of ancient Chinese architecture?

Ancient Chinese society, the ruler in order to ensure the ideal social and moral order and perfect building system, often formulated a set of canonical system or legal provisions, required in accordance with the difference in the status of people in the social and political life, to determine the form of the building and the scale of its use, which is what we call the architectural hierarchy. In the long course of development of ancient Chinese architecture, the hierarchical system also left its unique mark. Whether it is the principle of organization of Chinese cities, settlements and residential space, or the development and evolution of ancient architectural forms, or in the process of the formation of building materials and decorations and certain features of the building, you can find traces of the role of architectural hierarchy involved.

1The Development of Architectural Hierarchy - From Religious to Secular

According to archaeological excavations, in the early days of the Chinese slave society, there were differences between buildings serving different purposes, not only in terms of scale, but also in terms of the use of rammed earth to create platforms and the use of lime plastering and decoration. This difference indicates the occurrence of architectural hierarchy in the future. By the Zhou Dynasty, hierarchy had become one of the fundamental systems of the state and was expressed in the form of "rituals". Architecture was largely regulated in terms of type, size, number and color. These regulations were determined in accordance with the requirements of the supreme ruler, and failure to comply with them was a challenge to the authority of the Son of Heaven. The provisions of the architectural hierarchy of the Zhou dynasty were basically oriented to the requirements of religious activities. For example, the Mingtang was a unique place for the emperor to utilize the power of heaven, and some of its iconic components, such as the "Four A's", were designed to show the world its special "power". Another example is the use of color, red because of its relationship with fire, blood, since ancient times is the color of special sorcery power, so there is a "pillar, the son of God Dan" provisions.

The Warring States period was a time when "the rites and laws of the world fell into disrepute" and "the world had no way", but the Zhou architectural hierarchy was not abandoned. It can be learned from the literature that at this time, the architectural hierarchy was transformed from the ritual form to the form of both ritual and law, and was implemented accordingly. However, its content changed to some extent, mainly in two aspects. First, the provisions of the provisions have not changed, while the specific building changes. For example, in the Zhou Dynasty, the temple needed to be composed of many separate buildings, but in the Warring States period, only one main building was needed. The second is that new provisions were made due to the emergence of new circumstances. For example, in the Zhou Dynasty, "Que" is only used for the son of God and the vassal, to the Han Dynasty general officials can also be used, but the form is different, the general officials use one out of the Que, while the son of God with three out of the.

The Tang Dynasty's architectural hierarchy of literature and canonical preservation is relatively complete, which also reflects the importance of the ruling class from one side. Unlike the Zhou Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty required that the palace system from the Son of Heaven to the common people have their own differences, which is very different from the Zhou's "rites are not inferior to the common people". In the architectural hierarchy of the Tang Dynasty, the religious significance was weakened, and a shift to secularism began, with more attention paid to building volume and its related aspects, more attention paid to the control of building groups, and an emphasis on the shape of the buildings and the relationship between the neighbors.

The Song and Yuan dynasties basically followed the Tang system, while the Ming emperor Zhu, who regarded himself as Han orthodox and emphasized Confucian propriety, specified a more detailed and rigorous architectural hierarchy as soon as he established his state, which was constantly revised and supplemented. Ming Dynasty architectural hierarchy intentionally increased the distinction between the royal family and the general public, Ming Dynasty architecture more inclined to secularization, although the beginning of the Ming Dynasty has also been stipulated that the use of dragons and phoenixes, the sun and the moon and other motifs are not permitted to be used on the general building, but if you carefully study these motifs will find that even these motifs, but also gradually from the subtle and amazing turned to be easy to understand, from the bold to showy, from the greatness of the change to euphemistic, and lost the imposing atmosphere of the reign of the wind and the clouds. It can be argued that at this time people pay more attention to the artistic value of these patterns rather than its original mystical religious meaning.

The architectural hierarchy of the Qing dynasty can be regarded as complementary to the Ming system. It was more concerned with the proportional relationship between the various parts of the architectural group and determined that the image of the architectural group was more stereotyped. The Forbidden City in Beijing has reached the peak of the art in this regard, volume, spatial relationship is very deep. Generally speaking, the development of ancient Chinese architectural hierarchy has gone through many transformations from the sloppy to the meticulous, from the religious to the secular, and from the symbolic to the more art-oriented, which greatly influenced the development of the form and space of ancient buildings. On the other hand, this strict regulations to a certain extent limit the creativity of the craftsmen, stifling their flexibility to create enthusiasm, so that the overall development of the building stagnation, into the old way of conformity. This is also one of the reasons for the rigidity of the form of classical Chinese architecture, the lack of innovation.

2The Cultural Kernel of Architectural Hierarchy--Pursuing the Unity of Goodness and Beauty

Whether it is documented in the literature or verified by physical evidence, it can be seen that the contents, forms and standards of all kinds of buildings in ancient China were derived from the basic norms of "ritual". Qing dynasty "dynasty temple palace room" said: "learning ritual and do not know the ancients of the system of the palace room, then its place and the lift of the husband in and out, are not available and clear, so the palace room can not be examined." Visible link between the two. Then, what is "ritual"? The book of rites - the book of the place" said: "the rites, so chapter doubt to separate the micro for the people to imitate also. Therefore, the noble and the lowly are equal, the clothes are different, the court has a position, then the people have to let." Patriarchal etiquette shapes people's behavior in living and the creation of living space, and is the core of hierarchical living.

In ancient Chinese society, Confucian ethical thinking was the most influential to later generations, and it has been the basis for the overall orientation of Chinese culture, with its ideas of benevolence, righteousness, and propriety relied upon and utilized by successive rulers as a guideline for the country's social life and behavior. This is also fully reflected in the architecture, obviously manifested in the ritualization of the building. China is known as the "state of etiquette", in the long feudal society, successive rulers have established the etiquette for the rules and regulations, of course, the building is no exception. Hierarchical and meticulous, so based on the ritual hierarchy, it is not difficult to understand how the Forbidden City's well-organized and clear layout came about. The structure and image of the building itself is linked to the political and human norms, and believe that this is the way of heaven, therefore, the architectural hierarchy is not something optional, but the building of the "inner" requirements, can not be violated.

Ancient Chinese architectural layout, the Confucian rituals of up and down and the rituals of men and women as the basic concept, the so-called "before the dynasty after the bedding", "before the hall after the room" and so on. Successive generations of the provisions of the system of etiquette continue to cite the classics, enrichment and Xianghua, thus reflecting in many ways on the "etiquette", the pursuit of the unity of goodness and beauty. Specifically analyzed, the impact of the following aspects.

2.1 The grades of cities and settlements and the grades of residential areas within cities. The Spring and Autumn Annals made a clear provision on the rank of the city: "(City) nine miles for the son of heaven, seven miles for the duke, five miles for the marquis, and three miles for the son of the male". There are similar records in other canons. In the city, different residential areas also have different levels of regulations. The imperial city was located in the most important position, next to the aristocratic district, with bright colors and fine architecture. Then surrounding it was the gray, low-rise commoner's district, which fully emphasized the honorable status of the emperor. This also reflects the idea of capital construction in Wu-Yue Spring and Autumn Annals, which is "to build a city to defend the king, and to build a city for the inhabitants".

2.2 Hierarchy and orderliness of living space. The relationship between single buildings in ancient Chinese architecture not only has functional and visual requirements, but also designed according to etiquette. There are many records of this in the Book of Rites. Such as the hall step system, "the hall of the son of heaven nine feet, the vassal seven feet, five feet of the doctor, three feet of the scholar", and so on and so forth. In residential architecture, the building because of its different service objects, according to the three principles of human relations, the corresponding size, location, decoration are different, so that the building group can ideally reflect the political order and ethical norms. Thus, in the whole combination, the distinction between master and slave is clear, and the sense of order in a single direction is emphasized. Because of this so that the various levels of residence with *** the same guidelines and basis, they have to express the same rituals of the hierarchy of the content of residence, therefore, between them is "isomorphism", such as the spatial structure of the courtyard with the city of Beijing isomorphism. This phenomenon of isomorphism is also reflected in different areas of the same level of residence.

2.3 Differences in the spatial structure and decorative standards of each class of residence. In this regard, the hierarchy is the most detailed, with clear and detailed regulations on roof frames, algal wells, arches, doors, and decorations. For example, the six Tang canons stipulate that "the following houses of princes and dukes shall not be heavy arch algal wells, the hall above the third rank shall not be more than five nine frames, halls and mansions on both sides, the door house shall not be more than five five frames; the hall above the fifth rank shall not be more than three five frames, halls and mansions on both sides, the door house shall not be more than three five frames, and still through the door for the head of the crows. ...... "The implementation of this standardization, so that the overall appearance of the various levels of residence, as long as the size and spatial volume of the differences in the relationship between its internal space is the same or similar, so that the generality of architectural space to strengthen. Therefore, it has been argued that the space and form of a single building in ancient China were not very specific, and that the same space, put on the bed and bedding is a bedroom, and put on the offerings and screens is a hall, so much so that "all kinds of buildings in China do not rely entirely on the layout or shape of the house itself to achieve the performance of the character, but mainly rely on a variety of decoration, ornamentation and furnishings to constitute their own due style. "

Ancient China was a society of rituals, and the ethical and orderly architecture became the goal of architectural design, which, in turn, was strengthened by the ritualization of architecture, and the two were the cause and effect of each other, promoting each other, and making the hierarchical and ritualized architecture one of the distinctive features of ancient Chinese architecture.

3The influence of hierarchy on the evolution of architectural forms

Because of its deep cultural foundation and its esteem by Confucianism, the architectural hierarchy has been influencing the development and progress of architectural forms throughout Chinese history. On the one hand, severe regulations limited the changes of architectural forms, on the other hand, people, out of satisfaction and display of their own purposes, kept breaking through the limitations on the basis of identifying with it, and some of these changes were recognized by the regulations of the new hierarchy, which led to changes in the architectural hierarchy itself. In this way, the ruling class, in order to preserve the differences within the architectural system, had to keep changing their own architectural styles to achieve exclusivity, thus making the architecture more complex, ornate, and detailed, especially the parts that were closely related to human perception, such as the arches and algal wells. These changes contributed to the gradual deepening of people's understanding of architecture. Taking an overview of the history of ancient architecture, the changes in the overall image of the building and the way it was structured were limited in magnitude, but the changes in the parts with hierarchical significance, such as the que, the arch, and the algal wells, were relatively obvious and even excessive. The development of these special parts gradually formed the distinctive features of classical Chinese architecture, which in turn became one of the leading factors in the evolution of architectural image and even structure. From the specific provisions of the architectural hierarchy, it is a variety of people occupied by the building volume regulations, and most of them can not afford or can not change the building volume (people are generally in the special components or decorative techniques on the expression of self-expression, but more difficult to change the scale), and therefore not subject to hierarchical restrictions on the emperor's palace do not have to make a breakthrough in the volume of the display of its own uniqueness, which weakened the expansion of the monolithic volume of the pursuit. This is also one of the reasons for the lack of technical innovation in this area. And since the Tang Dynasty, the monolithic scale of the emperor's palace is getting smaller and smaller, and the local carving and engraving is increasingly dense, gorgeous, from one side to promote the Tang Dynasty, stretching the bright architectural style to the Qing Dynasty complex and ornate architectural style of the transformation.

Today, the feudal hierarchy that once dominated every aspect of people's lives has disappeared, and architecture has begun to focus on the needs of people themselves with unprecedented enthusiasm, rather than on rules and regulations. For Chinese architecture to develop and progress, it cannot leave the interaction with Chinese cultural thought. We believe that with deeper understanding, the traditional understanding of architecture will increasingly show its significance to real life.