There is a kind of building in northern Shaanxi called cave dwelling. What are its architectural features?

Shaanxi cave dwelling is a unique traditional residential form on the Loess Plateau in northern China, which is divided into earth cave and interface cave. When you travel to northern Shaanxi, whether you go to Yan 'an or Yulin, you can see caves on the side of the mountain, either flat or hoop, or sinking into the ground, forming a big yard.

As early as 4000 years ago, ancestors living in the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi had the habit of digging holes to live. Because the plateau loess is sticky and hard, it is not easy to collapse. The cave was built on the mountain. They are excavated horizontally on the natural earth wall.

Basic introduction of caves: China is a country with relatively common caves, which are distributed in Gannan, Qingyang, Yinchuan, Guyuan and Xinjiang, Guizhou, Yan 'an, Turpan, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Shanxi, Linfen, Shanxi, Pinglu and Shanxi. Shaanxi caves are mainly distributed in the northern part of Shaanxi Province, referring to the caves in Yan 'an, Yulin. Other places in Shaanxi Province.

According to preliminary statistics, since liberation, the total number of kiln people in China has reached 1. 1 100 million, and the number of people who still adopt the kiln people model is as high as 40 million. The distribution area is mainly the underdeveloped areas in the central and western regions. Many poor families' earthen kilns are in disrepair. Due to natural disasters such as heavy rain, floods, waves and mudslides, cave houses have been in disrepair for a long time and are on the verge of collapse.

My tutor, Mr. Jiaping Liu, once commented on cave architecture: it is warm in winter and cool in summer, comfortable and energy-saving, the traditional space is full of harmony with nature, and the simple appearance is unique in architectural aesthetics. It is built on a mountain and has 8 rows of nearly 300 caves. Hand-painted pictures of working people are hung on the cave walls; Paper-cuts are pasted on the hollowed-out lattice windows, and flowers are decorated on the windowsill.