The Advantages and Shortcomings of Wooden Structure Buildings in Ancient China

(I) Easy to get wood

In ancient times, China's vast land was full of dense forests, including the Yellow River basin, which was once a region with a temperate climate and lush forests. Coupled with the easy processing of wood, the use of stone tools can be completed cutting, opening, leveling, making mortise and tenon and other processes (although the processing is very rough). With the use of bronze tools and later iron axes, catties, saws, chisels, drills, planes and other tools, the technical level of wood structure has been rapidly improved, and the resulting formation of China's unique, mature architectural technology and art system.

(2) strong adaptability

The wooden frame building is formed by the columns, beams, purlins, square and other components of the framework to withstand the roof, floor loads, as well as wind, seismic forces, the wall is not load-bearing, but only to play the role of enclosure, separation and stabilization of the columns, and therefore the folk have a "wall down the house does not collapse" of the proverb. The interior of the house can be more freely separated space, doors and windows can also be opened at will. The use of flexibility, adaptability, whether foot water, mountain, frigid, tropical, can meet the requirements of use.

(C) has a strong seismic performance

The composition of the wooden frame using mortise and tenon combination, the wood itself has the flexibility plus mortise and tenon nodes have a certain degree of mobility, so that the entire wooden frame in the abatement of seismic damage has a great potential, many of the famous wooden frame buildings that have withstood the earthquake, such as tianjin ji xian duluoji guanyin pavilion, shanxi yingxian fugong temple tower (both for the liao dynasty building, built over a thousand years), the wooden frame is a very good example. Liao Dynasty, built a thousand years ago) are able to. Can be well preserved to this day, is a strong proof.

(D) construction speed

Timber processing is much faster than stone, coupled with the Tang and Song dynasty after the use of similar to today's construction of the system of modulus method (Song dynasty with "material", the Qing dynasty with the "bucket mouth"), a variety of wooden components of the pattern has also been Stereotypes, so a variety of wooden components can be processed at the same time, made and then assembled. Therefore, some ancient European churches often take more than a hundred years to complete, while the Ming Emperor Chengzu built Beijing Palace and ten Wang Fu and other large-scale complexes, from the preparation of materials to completion of only a dozen years. Jiajing when the construction of the Forbidden City, the three great halls also took only three years, and the West Garden Yongshou Palace was burned only "ten days" (100 days) on the completion of the reconstruction.

(E) easy to repair, relocation

Tongue and groove nodes are removable, replace some kind of component or the whole house demolition and relocation, are relatively easy to do. There are also historical examples of palaces and temples demolished and rebuilt off-site, such as Yongji County, Shanxi Yongle Palace, a representative of the Yuan Dynasty Taoist temple, the whole complex has been demolished and relocated to Ruicheng County, Ruicheng County, in the 1950s.

Disadvantages:

1. poor fire prevention, destroy a dynasty to burn a dynasty this is the practice, otherwise you can leave more ancient buildings.

2. Anti-corrosion work is more difficult, although outside the paint, and the application of good wood, it is inevitable that there is a risk of corrosion by insects and other corrosion.