Ritual Thought and Performance in Ancient Chinese Architecture

China is one of the birthplaces of world civilization, with a long cultural history of 5000 years. A large number of archaeological research thousands of years of ancient Chinese architectural history is a rich and colorful cultural history, full of social life, history and culture, the accumulation of religious beliefs, the building itself with the different times and mutual differences; at the same time． At the same time, ancient Chinese architecture is a continuous, complete and relatively independent development system. High platforms, wooden frames, the appearance of large roof forms and courtyard combination pattern of a ribbed inheritance, has never been interrupted. This shows that in the long history of ancient Chinese architectural development, there is a continuous common view or experience of the core, determining the development of architecture. That is to say there is a relatively stable view of architectural development, this view of development reflects the pursuit of the ideal life of the ancient people, the attitude of the objective world and the value orientation of architectural development under the influence of the real social conditions, such as the way of life, the level of productivity, political

economic and other factors.

1The emergence of the "state" as reflected in the development of architectural thought from the "colony" to the "city"!

To talk about Chinese architectural thought, it is necessary to have an understanding of the history of architecture in China. Architecture is a product of human activity, and conscious human activity, probably from prehistoric culture.

China's prehistoric culture is probably divided into five stages: Youshao's, Suiren's, Fuqi's, Shennong's, and the Yellow Emperor. And the real meaning of the building from the Yellow Emperor began, such as the "new language" said: the world's people live in the wild cave, there is no room, then with the birds and animals in the same area, so the Yellow Emperor cut the wood construction materials, built to do the palace, on the building under the building, in order to avoid the wind and rain. In this period, with the development of society, the emergence of settlements as a unit of settlement. The settlement is dominated by the residents' living room buildings, as well as the residents' public **** activities of the big house, plaza and other architectural facilities, these facilities are to serve all the residents, so they are open, that is to say, there is no hierarchical difference between the people in this period. In order to facilitate the activities of the clan members, most of the big houses and squares were built in the middle of the settlement. And then at the end of the prehistoric culture, some big houses appeared, and they became the office or residence of the tribal chiefs. Such as Gansu Dadiwan F901 is this big house, he also became the earliest prototype of the Chinese palace building, with the necessary functions of the later palace building. But these houses are not built around the wall, I think this time the settlement is not a city. At this time for the safety of the inhabitants, ditches were dug around the settlements, which were sprinkled with white ash, but this was not for the service of the administrators, but more for the purpose of preventing attacks by beasts of prey and other tribes!

Around 21 B.C., mankind entered the age of civilization (slave society), and the earliest states were born in the form of city buildings. And at this time the city was different from prehistory, it had become a military facility, a political center, and an arena for political activities by the rulers. It was at that time that the saying "build a city to defend the king" came into being, and the city appeared as the antithesis of the people, and all the designs of the city embodied the above ideas. At the Erlitou site in Yanshi, Henan Province, which has been archaeologically explored, dozens of large rammed-earth building sites have been found in the center of the site, most of which are palace building sites surrounded by walls to form a palace city. Erlitou site of the palace, the courtyard building is closed, unlike the prehistoric large houses and squares. Inside, the palace and the south gate are opposite each other from north to south, the palace is in the center of the northern part of the courtyard, and the south gate is in the center of the south wall or south corridor of the courtyard. And this architectural pattern is a reflection of the ruler's concept of political center. With the development of the country, the increase in the ruling group, the city of Weijun is not enough to live, so outside the city appeared Guo Cheng, Guo City, living in the city is the general population, the so-called "Guo to residents.

2 The hierarchy of ancient Chinese society embodied in the hierarchy of people

Ancient China, "civilization formation", into the "state", the city also appeared, the city is the ruling center of the country, Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, "city" is the city of the Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, "city" is the city of the Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, "city" is the city of the Xia, Shang and Western Zhou. "The city was the center of state rule, the Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, and later until the Qing Dynasty. This is a reflection of the entire ancient hierarchy. During the spring and autumn period, the local lords are powerful, the central authority is weakened, the emergence of a large number of local cities reflect this "hostage to the feudal lords" political situation. Pre-qin city has been divided into different levels, "zhouli. The Zhou Li. Craftsman" will be divided into three levels of the city, the first level of the king city, that is, the kingdom of the capital city, the second level of the vassal city, that is, the capital city of the feudal state, the third level that is, the patriarch and the ShiDaFu cognizance, this three-level system of the city, and then the architectural reflected in the city of the different scales, they include the building size, the height, the number of how many differences in the level of the diminishing. After the pre-Qin Dynasty, all dynasties were centralized, and although there were no more feudal cities, the county system was implemented, and the hierarchy was also reflected in these cities. For example, the Tang Chang'an City, its east-west length of 9,721, north-south 8651 meters, a circumference of 36.7 kilometers, an area of 83 square kilometers. The local cities at that time were different according to the size of the grade, generally large state city 16 square, medium state city four square, county city a square. And the number of city gates of different grades of cities is also different according to the number of gateways. Since the Han Dynasty, the capital city generally set up twelve city gates, each side of the city wall with three city gates, each gate three lanes. Other cities generally set up four gates, individual set up eight gates, each side of the city wall to open a gate, individual have two gates. Tang Dynasty, the main gate of the city to open two doors, called the double door, this system extends the Song Dynasty

.3 Ancient Chinese architecture in the center of the idea

Traditional Chinese thought, that anything is not biased, the so-called middle way. Expressed in the building, is the idea of the center, the so-called center for the noble. Xunzi. Great Strategy" has "the king must live in the world" said. From the architectural group to the building site, and then to the architectural form knot, the idea of choosing the center is reflected. Such as the location of the capital city, there is "choose the world in order to set up the country, choose the country in order to set up the Palace," said the choice is also the embodiment of the ancient Chinese ethical hierarchy. Zhou Li. The Zhou Rites. The Book of the Examiner's Records" is illustrated in the book. For example, the Western Han Dynasty's Chang'an City, embodies the idea of centering, in the Western Han Dynasty's imperial city, important buildings, building complexes and the relationship between the capital city's central axis. The central axis of the Han Chang'an City was from the Xi'an Gate to the Hengmen Gate, and then southward through the southern suburb of the ceremonial buildings, with patriarchal temples and shrines spreading east and west of it. The southern part of the central axis of the city in the Weiyang Palace, Weiyang Palace is the center of the Western Han Dynasty capital, the Grand Dynasty Hall is the main building of the Weiyang Palace, the Grand Dynasty Hall, that is, the front hall of the Weiyang Palace, located in the center of the Weiyang Palace. The southern section of the capital city axis that is the Weiyang Palace axis Weiyang Palace as the most important palace on its axis. And then the Tang Chang'an City, further embodied the idea of the center, and because of this central axis design, also makes the Tang Chang'an City reached a new realm. So much so that it has become an essential material for the study of ancient Chinese architecture. The main street of the city, Vermilion Bird Street, is its central axis, Vermilion Bird Street is 150 meters wide, is the widest road in Chang'an City, which is in the center of the city east and west. And from the south to the north, in turn, there is the main gate of the capital city, Mingde Gate, Vermilion Bird Gate, Chengtian Gate, the north end of the central axis of the palace north-south arrangement of the three major halls, Taiji Hall, the Hall of the two, Ganquan Hall. It not only highlights the main hall of the dynasty, the main gate of the palace, the main gate of the Imperial City, the main gate of the city of Guo, around the central axis, the palace, the government, the temple, the gods of earth and grain, the market, Rifang symmetrically distributed in the central axis of the east and west. And the design of each of its Rifang also reflects the idea of the center. The market is in the shape of a well, and the official building that manages the market is in the center of the market. In short, the idea of centrality was everywhere in the Tang Chang'an city. Not only the capital city, in the local cities also embodies the central axis arrangement, political institutions are generally located in its central axis.

4 Ancient Chinese architecture of the "high" idea.

Since the beginning of the slave society, to the end of the Qing dynasty, Chinese society embodies a strict hierarchy, people have high and low. And this is reflected in the architecture, it is manifested in the "high" design ideas. In ancient China, the royal family, the royal family, the government of various categories of buildings, terrain selection of high and low design reflects this, in the palace ministers stand and sit in the position, are lower than the monarch, the capital, the royal city, the seat of the local government at all levels are generally selected from the topography of the high place to build. The phenomenon of the royal family, high officials building high, but also reflects the idea of the king of the world, is a reflection of the ruler of the high and mighty. Western Zhou Feng-ho ruins, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States in some of the city site of the high platform, Qin Xianyang Afang Palace of the large platform, the site of the Han Weiyang Palace of the platform, Wei Yecheng three platforms, the Tang Chang'an City of the main palace, preserved to date in the Ming and Qing Dynasty Beijing City Hall of Harmony building, etc., which are their respective capitals of the tallest building. Such as the Han Chang'an City, its southwest terrain is the highest, the palace city of Weiyang Palace on the site here, the overall topography of the capital city is high in the south and low in the north. The main palace Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, North Palace, Gui Palace is located in the south and center of the city. Tang Chang'an City built in the south of Longshouyuan, the capital city terrain north high and south low, taiji palace, Daming Palace in the north of the capital city, the imperial city government offices in the south of the imperial city, the market in the southern part of the imperial city, Rifang in the central and southern part of the imperial city. Not only the ruler lived in the palace, the emperor tomb also reflects the idea of high, many emperors of the emperor's mausoleum were built in the terrain of the high, such as the Western Han Dynasty mausoleums are mainly distributed in the Xianyang Plain, there are two distributed in the south of Xi'an on the White Deer Plain and Honggu Plain, which is also the terrain of the high. The imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty are distributed in the South Deer of the Weibei Mountain Range, which is located on top of the Weibei Plateau, and its terrain is significantly higher than that of the Tang Chang'an City. In each imperial mausoleum mausoleum area, the imperial mausoleum sealing soil is the highest building in the mausoleum area.