China traditional dwellings institution

Residential buildings in various parts of China, also known as residential buildings. Residential building is the most basic type of building, with the earliest appearance, the widest distribution and the largest number. Due to the different natural environment and cultural conditions in different regions of China, the local houses also present diversified characteristics.

The mainstream of traditional folk houses in China Han nationality area is regular folk houses, with Beijing quadrangle as a typical representative and symmetrical layout. Beijing quadrangles are divided into front and rear rooms, and the main house system in the middle is the most respected. It is a place to hold family etiquette and receive distinguished guests. Each house faces the courtyard and is connected by a balcony. Although Beijing Siheyuan is a concrete embodiment of patriarchal clan system in feudal society of China, it is an ideal outdoor living space with wide courtyard, appropriate scale, quiet and friendly, and orderly flowers and trees. Most houses in northeast China are such spacious quadrangles.

Tang Wu and Tulou

Houses in the south of China are compact in structure, mostly multi-storey, and their typical houses are halls with rectangular patios as the center. This kind of folk house is square, simple in structure and widely distributed in southern provinces.

Hakka people in southern Fujian, northern Guangdong and northern Guangxi often live in large-scale group houses, which are round and square in plan and consist of a single-storey building in the center and four or five-storey buildings around. This kind of building is very defensive, represented by Hakka tulou in Yongding County, Fujian Province. Among the traditional houses in China, the Hakka earth building in Yongding is unique. There are more than 8,000 earth buildings such as square, round, octagonal and oval, which are large in scale, beautiful in shape, scientific and practical, and have their own characteristics, forming a wonderful living world.

Fujian Tulou uses local raw soil, gravel and sawdust to build single houses, and then connect them into big houses, and then build thick and closed "defensive" castle-style building houses-Tulou. Tulou has firmness, safety, closeness and strong clan characteristics. There are wells and granaries in the building. In case of war and bandits, once the city gate is closed, it will die. If besieged, food and water will last for months. Coupled with the characteristics of warm winter and cool summer, earthquake-resistant and wind-resistant, Tulou has become the residence of Hakka people for generations.

Minority residential buildings

There are many kinds of residential buildings in ethnic minority areas in China, such as Xinjiang Uygur residential buildings in northwest China, which are mostly flat-topped, with earth walls and one to three floors, surrounded by courtyards; The exterior wall of the typical Tibetan residence "Diaofang" is made of stone, and the interior is flat-topped wood structure; Mongolians usually live in movable yurts; However, ethnic minorities in southwest China often build wooden frame dry fence buildings with people living in the open air downstairs and upstairs, among which the bamboo building of the Dai nationality in Yunnan is the most distinctive. Miao and Tujia Diaojiaolou are the most distinctive folk houses in southwest China. Diaojiaolou is usually built on a slope and has no foundation. It is supported by pillars. This building is divided into two or three floors. The top floor is very short, only food can't live in people, and there are sundries or livestock piled downstairs.

Northern caves and ancient city dwellings

China has a vast territory and many nationalities, and the forms, structures, decorative arts and colors of local houses have their own characteristics. This paper mainly introduces the distinctive caves in the north and the folk houses in the ancient city.

There are many caves in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River in northern China. In Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, Shanxi and other loess areas, local residents dig horizontal holes in natural earth walls, often connecting several holes, adding bricks and stones in the holes to build caves. Cave dwellings are fire-proof, noise-proof, warm in winter and cool in summer, land-saving, economical and labor-saving, and organically combine nature and life scenes. It is a perfect architectural form adapted to local conditions, which permeates people's love and attachment to the yellow land.

In addition, there are well-preserved ancient cities in China, where there are a large number of ancient houses. Among them, Pingyao Ancient City in Shanxi and Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan were both listed on the World Heritage List at 1998.

Pingyao Ancient City is the most complete existing ancient county town in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it is a typical representative of the ancient county town of Han nationality in Central Plains of China. So far, the city walls, streets, houses, shops, temples and other buildings are still basically intact, and its architectural pattern and characteristics remain basically unchanged. Pingyao is a living specimen of China's political, economic, cultural, military, architectural and artistic development.

Old Town of Lijiang, which was founded in the Southern Song Dynasty, is the only town that combines Naxi traditional architecture with foreign architectural features. Old Town of Lijiang is not affected by the architectural etiquette of the Central Plains, and the road network in the city is irregular and there is no strict wall. Black Dragon Pool is the main water source of the ancient city. The pool water flows into the walls and around the residents, forming a water network. Rivers, canals and weeping willows can be seen everywhere in the ancient city.