What are the characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture?

Arches

Relative to the Western ancient architecture of masonry system, ancient Chinese architecture is an independent institutional system, its biggest features are four:

1. wood-based structural system. Wooden structure system has a lot of advantages: such as maintenance structure and support structure is separated, high seismic performance; easy to take materials, construction speed and so on. At the same time, wood structure also has many disadvantages: easy to suffer from fire, termite erosion, rain corrosion, compared with the masonry building maintenance time is not long; timber wood due to the increase in the amount of construction and scarcity; beam system is more difficult to realize the complexity of the architectural space and so on. However, there are also a small number of masonry buildings and metal buildings in ancient Chinese architecture, such as the "Shiji Suoyin" said: "stone rooms and gold coffers, all for the national collection of books." ; for example, there are many records in the "Water Classic", "Wei Shui Chuan": "There is a stone room next to Panxi, covering the residence of Taigong also. Masonry is mostly used for tower buildings. Metal buildings are mainly copper, the famous examples of copper buildings are Beijing Summer Palace Baoyun Pavilion, Hubei Wudang Mountain Golden Palace and Kunming Taihe Palace Golden Palace.

2. The Chinese wooden structure system has always used the structural principle of the frame system: four columns, plus beams, vertical square and constitute the "between", the general building consists of an odd number of rooms, such as three, five, seven, nine rooms. The more room, the higher the grade, the Forbidden City Hall of Taihe for eleven room, is the highest level of existing wooden buildings. The elevation is divided into three parts: the foundation, the body, the roof. One of the official building roof is large, out of the deep is the most important part of the building shape. The form of the roof according to the grade is divided into: single-slope, flat roof, hard hill, hanging hill, hipped, hiatus, rolled shed, save the tip, heavy eaves, helmet roof and so on a variety of systems, but also to heavy eaves hipped for the highest level.

3. Arch is a key part of the Chinese wooden structure, its role is to extend the cantilever beam on the column to support the weight of the eave part.

4. Exceptional external contours: multi-storey pedestals, brightly colored curved sloping roofs, courtyard-style complexes, showing the vast empty space. More than 2,000 years ago, the Han tomb brick paintings already have courtyard building performance, and to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the most grandiose architectural complex - the Forbidden City, also used the complex form of enclosure.

In terms of architectural ideology, ancient Chinese architecture embodied a clear idea of etiquette, focusing on hierarchy: form, color, scale, structure, components, etc. are strictly regulated, to a certain extent, perfected the architectural form, but also at the same time limit the development of the building. At the same time, the idea of the unity of man and heaven is also reflected in the development of ancient Chinese architecture, promoting the mutual coordination and integration of architecture and nature. Focusing on architecture, city site selection; construction of the local conditions, according to the mountains, the garden embodiment is particularly obvious, emphasizing feng shui.

Ancient buildings, carved beams and painted buildings, walls and walls are often painted. During the Warring States period, the painting was quite prosperous; during the Han Dynasty, the palace room, there were also many stories of painted characters, good and evil back to show that the warning; later generations of paintings are more landscapes.

China has a lot of famous architectural writings, including urban writings, "Kao Gong Ji", building regulations writings of the Song Dynasty Li commandments, "Building Methods", the Qing Dynasty, "Qing Ministry of Public Works Engineering Practice Rules", gardening writings, "Garden Metallurgy". In the Qing Dynasty, the works of the Ministry of Public Works of the Qing Dynasty included the "Garden Metallurgy". Famous craftsmen are Sui dynasty Yuwen Kai, Song dynasty Li commandment, Ming dynasty Kuaixiang, Qing dynasty style Lei.

Monolithic modeling

The monolithic body of ancient Chinese architecture can be roughly divided into three parts: the foundation of the house, the body of the house, and the roof. All important buildings are built on the base of the pedestal, generally one-story pedestal, large halls, such as Beijing Ming and Qing dynasty Imperial Palace Taihe Temple, built on a tall triple pedestal. The plan form of a single building is mostly rectangular, square, hexagonal, octagonal, circular. These different plan forms play an important role in constituting the fa?ade image of the building monolith. Due to the use of wood frame structure, the treatment of the roof to be very flexible, doors, windows, columns and walls are often based on the use of different materials and parts of the disposition and decoration, greatly enriching the image of the roof.

Ancient Chinese building roof forms colorful. As early as in the Han Dynasty, there are hipped, hiatus, overhanging mountains, hoard roof, save the tip of several basic forms, and there is a heavy eaves roof. Later appeared in the hook and lap, single slope roof, cross slope roof, pelvis roof, arched roof, vaulted roof and many other forms. In order to protect the wooden frame, the roof is often used larger eaves. But the eave is an obstacle to light, as well as the roof of the rain leakage is easy to wash away the foundation, so the later use of reverse curved roof or roof lifting, corner warping, so the roof and the corner of the roof appears more light and lively.

Square and neat

Ancient Chinese buildings are many monolithic buildings combined into a group of architectural groups, large to the palace, small to the mansion, and so on. Its layout form has a strict directionality, often north-south, only a few groups of buildings due to terrain restrictions to take the form of a variation, but also due to religious beliefs or feng shui ideas and the influence of the direction of the variation. Square and strict layout of the idea, mainly from the geographical location of the middle reaches of the Yellow River in ancient China and the influence of Confucianism in the idea.

The layout of ancient Chinese architectural complexes was always based on a major longitudinal axis, with the main buildings arranged on the main axis, and the secondary buildings arranged on both sides in front of the main buildings, facing each other from east to west and forming a square or rectangular courtyard. This courtyard layout not only meets the needs of safety and sunshine to prevent wind and cold, but also conforms to the system of patriarchal law and rituals of ancient Chinese society. When a group of courtyards can not meet the needs, the main building can be extended before and after the layout of multiple courtyards, in the main axis on both sides of the layout of the cross courtyard (auxiliary axis). The Confucius Temple in Qufu has ten courtyards on the main axis and multiple cross courtyards on both sides of the main axis. It has one axis in front of Kuiwenge, and three axes side by side after Kuiwenge. As for the altar and temple, mausoleums and other ceremonial buildings layout, it is even more rigid. This strict layout is not rigid, but will be more into, more courtyard space, arranged to become a change of quite personalized space series. Like Beijing's courtyard houses, its four courtyards are different. The first one is a horizontal long inverted courtyard, the second one is a rectangular triple courtyard, the third one is a square quadrangle courtyard, and the fourth one is a long horizontal cover house courtyard. The four courtyards have different planes, with different facades of buildings, dill flowers and trees in the courtyard, set rocks and bonsai, so that the spatial environment is fresh and lively, quiet and pleasant.

Shanshui garden

An important feature of classical Chinese gardens is that they have a sense of meaning, which is the same as classical Chinese poetry, painting and music. Landscape gardeners use landscape, rocks and gullies, flowers, trees and buildings to express a certain artistic realm, so classical Chinese gardens are known as landscaped gardens. From the creation of landscaping art, it takes in all the images, shaping the typical, to the allegory of self, through observation, refinement, as much as the state of things, poor things, the beauty of nature sublimated into artistic beauty, in order to express their own feelings. Appreciation of the scene in the scene of the trigger caused some kind of feelings, and then sublimated into a mood, so the appreciation of the scene is also a kind of artistic re-creation. This artistic re-creation, is the viewer through the scenery to express their feelings, send thoughts of self-expression process, is a kind of spiritual sublimation, so that the person's mind to cleanse, to achieve a higher level of thought.

In the Chinese classical garden, the scene of the realm is divided into: the realm of the world, the realm of the gods, the realm of nature. Confucianism is practical, with a high sense of social responsibility, concern for social life and interpersonal relationships, moral and ethical values and political significance of governing the country, this idea is reflected in the garden landscaping is the realm of the world. Laozhuang thought of natural tranquility and refining the body and mind to quiet observation, intuition for the service, romanticism for the aesthetic, artistic expression of the natural realm. Buddhism, Taoism and the pursuit of nirvana and fantasize about becoming immortal, garden landscaping is reflected in the realm of immortals. The realm of governance is mostly found in royal gardens, such as the Yuanmingyuan Forty Scenes, about half of which belong to the realm of governance, and contain almost all the philosophical, political, economic, moral and ethical contents of Confucianism. Most of the natural realm is reflected in the literati gardens, such as the Canglang Pavilion of Su Shunqin in the Song Dynasty, and Sima Guang's Duluo Park. The realm of the immortals is reflected in the royal gardens and temple gardens, such as the Pengdao Yaotai in Yuanmingyuan, the Fanghu Shengjing, the Huixian Bridge of the ancient Changdao Temple on Qingcheng Mountain, and the Feixing Rock of the Southern Rock Palace on Wudang Mountain.

There are three characteristics of the spiritual connotation of ancient Chinese architectural art. First, buildings of high artistic value also play a role in maintaining and strengthening the social, political and ethical system and ideology. Secondly, it is rooted in the deep traditional culture and shows the distinctive spirit of humanism. Third, it is highly general and comprehensive. Often use all the factors and techniques synthesized into a whole image, from the combination of space to color decoration is an integral part of the whole, draw out any of them will affect the overall effect of the building.

Wooden frame-based

Ancient Chinese architecture used wooden frames as the load-bearing structure of the house. Wooden beams and columns system in the Spring and Autumn period before the Western Yuan Dynasty has been initially completed and widely used, to the Han Dynasty development is more mature. Wooden structure can be roughly divided into lifting beam type, through the bucket type, well dry type, to lift the beam type is most commonly used. Carrying beam structure is along the depth of the house in the base of the columns, columns on the frame beams, beams on the overlap of several layers of melon columns and beams, and then in the uppermost layer of beams on the spine of the melon columns, composed of a group of roof frames. Between the two parallel frames, the horizontal square is connected to the upper end of the columns, and purlins are placed on the head of the beams and the ridge and melon pillars on each level to connect the frames and carry the roof. The rafters between purlins form the skeleton of the roof. In this way, by two sets of frames can constitute a room, a house can be one or more.

Archives are the most specialized members of Chinese wooden frame construction. Doo is a bucket-shaped cushion wood block, the arch is a bow-shaped short wood, they are layer by layer crisscrossing stacked into a group of large and small brackets, placed on the column head to support the load of the beams and eave to the outside of the pick out of the eaves. To the Tang and Song, the arch development to the peak, from the simple pads and eave components developed into a link between the Liang Fang placed on the column network above a circle of "well" lattice-shaped composite beam. It is in addition to the eaves to the outside, to the inside to support the ceiling, the main function is to maintain the integrity of the wooden frame, become an indispensable part of large buildings. After the Song Dynasty, the wooden frame increased, the column height, wooden frame nodes used in the gradual reduction of the arch. To the Yuan, Ming, Qing, the column head between the use of frontal square and with the beam square, etc., the framework of the overall strengthening of the shape of the arch becomes smaller, no longer play a structural role in the arrangement of the Tang and Song Song is more dense, decorative role more and more strengthened, the formation of the ornaments for the display of the difference between the levels.

The advantages of wood frame are: first, load-bearing structure and maintenance structure separately, the weight of the building all by the wood frame support, the walls only play a role in maintenance and separation of space. Second, easy to adapt to different climatic conditions, can be due to the different cold and warm regions, with the appropriate treatment of the height of the house, the thickness of the walls, what kind of materials, as well as to determine the location and size of the windows and doors. Third, due to the unique nature of wood and construction nodes have room for expansion and contraction, even if the wall collapses and the house does not collapse, in favor of reducing earthquake damage. Fourthly, it is convenient to take materials and process them locally. Ancient forests in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, timber than masonry easy to process and make.

Decoration and Decoration

Ancient Chinese architecture for decoration, decoration, where all the building parts or components, are to beautify the image of the choice, the color of the parts and components due to the nature of the different and different.

The foundation and steps are the base of the house and into the house steps, but to give the carving, with railings, it seems particularly solemn and majestic. Roof decoration can make the roof profile image more beautiful. Such as the Palace of Imperial China Taihe Temple, heavy eaves hipped roof, five ridges and four slopes, the ridge ends are decorated with a dragon shaped kiss, open mouth to swallow the ridge, the tail rolled up, the four ridges of the gable part of the ridge are decorated with nine glazed beasts, adding to the image of the roof of the artistic force.

Doors, windows, partitions belong to the eaves decoration, is the separation of indoor and outdoor space of the spacer, but particularly decorative. Doors and windows with its various images, patterns, colors to enhance the artistic effect of the building facade. Inner eaves decoration is used to divide the internal space of the house device, commonly used partition doors, walls, dobby, bookcases, etc., they can make the indoor space to produce the effect of both separation and connectivity. Another device to divide the interior space is a variety of cover, such as a few legs cover, floor cover, round light cover, flower cover, balustrade cover, etc., and some have to install glass or paste yarn, painted flowers or inscriptions, so that the interior is full of bookish flavor.

The ceiling is the ceiling of the interior, is a decoration over the interior. General residential housing production is relatively simple, mostly made of wooden strips of net frame, nailed to the beam, and then paste paper, called "plasterwork ceiling". Important buildings such as the temple, the wooden support strips in the beams and frames built between the square grid network, the grid within the wooden boards, painted with colorful paintings, known as "wells ceiling". Algae well is more decorative than the ceiling of a roof interior decoration, it is a complex structure, below the round, by three layers of wood frame intersection composed of an upwardly elevated like a well-shaped ceiling, more for the temple, the Buddha altar of the upper center, the intersection of wood such as wells, painted algae, so called algae wells.

The building is painted on the building is an important feature of ancient Chinese architecture, is an indispensable decorative art of the building. It was originally applied to the beams, pillars, doors, windows and other wooden components used to prevent corrosion, moth-proof paint, and then gradually developed and evolved into color painting. In ancient times, the application of color painting on the building, there is a strict distinction between the levels, the people's houses are not allowed to paint color painting, is in the Forbidden City, different nature of the building painting color painting also has a strict distinction. Among them and the seal painting is the highest level, the content of the dragon as the theme, applied to the outer court, the inner court of the main hall, the style of noble. Spin color painting is patterned color painting, picture layout elegant and flexible, rich in change, commonly used in secondary palace and hall, door hips and other buildings. Another is the Su-style color painting, landscape, figures, grasses and insects, flowers as the content, mostly used in the garden on top of the pavilions.