What are the differences between Chinese and Western architectural styles?

Fundamentally, the differences between Chinese and Western architectural art come first from the difference in materials: traditional Western architecture has long been dominated by stone; while traditional Eastern architecture has always been framed in wood. This difference in building materials provides different possibilities for their respective architectural arts.

Different building materials and different social functions have given Chinese and Western classical architecture different "artistic languages".

Different languages express different ideas and reveal different emotions; different buildings carry different cultures and embody different beliefs. Western stone buildings are generally developed vertically, pointing straight upwards. In this way, the ability to lift the high-density stone roofs into the sky becomes the key to the art of architecture, and the columns that carry out this task also become the key to the key. Therefore, the "basic vocabulary" of Western architecture is columns, i.e., those vertically upward, sky-high stones. If columns are the "basic vocabulary" of Western architectural art, then roofs are its "main syntax". Different roofs lead to differences in style types, such as Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Gothic, Baroque and so on.

Unlike the stone buildings of the West, the wooden buildings of ancient China used the arch as the "basic vocabulary". The so-called arch is the overlapping curved timbers that hold up the eaves of a house, allowing the vertical forces to expand horizontally, thus creating a wide variety of flying eaves. Like the roofs of Western buildings, the eaves, as the "main form" of ancient Chinese architecture, are of many types, low-hanging, flat, or upturned. Their different forms create different artistic effects, either light, simple, or majestic. Not only pavilions, platforms, buildings, pavilions should use the eaves to mark their identity, to express their feelings, and the height of the eaves, the length of the building design will often become difficult and important points. As the saying goes, "increase one point is too long, reduce one point is too short", the design of the eaves must be just right in order to appear light and not frivolous, simple and not mechanical, majestic and not dull.

There is also the Chinese attitude to the building is to the new for the expensive, while foreigners are full of respect for the old building and respect.

There is also the fact that Western architecture is full of religious mysticism, while Chinese architecture is a reflection of Confucian culture.

The difference in the form of Chinese and Western architecture is a manifestation of cultural difference, which reflects the difference in the material and natural environment, the difference in the form of social structure, the difference in the method of thinking of human beings as well as the difference in the aesthetic realm.

1. The difference in building materials reflects the difference in material culture and philosophical concepts between China and the West.

2. The difference in the layout of architectural space reflects the difference between Chinese and Western institutional culture and character traits.

3. The development of architecture is different, reflecting the difference between Chinese and Western attitudes towards innovation. From the architectural development process, Chinese architecture is conservative.

4. The difference in architectural value shows the difference between Chinese and Western aesthetic concepts. From the point of view of architectural value, Chinese architecture focuses on information, while Western architecture focuses on real objects.

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