What are the main aspects of the differences between Chinese and Western architecture?

Fundamentally speaking, the difference between Chinese and Western architectural art comes firstly from the difference in materials: traditional Western architecture has long been dominated by stone; while traditional Eastern architecture has always been framed by 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. From the point of view of building materials, before modern architecture, all the world has developed a mature architectural system, including the Indian architecture belonging to the Oriental architecture, basically, are to masonry as the main building materials to create, belonging to the masonry structure system. Such as the Egyptian pyramids, temples in ancient Greece, the Colosseum in ancient Rome, the aqueduct, the medieval European churches ...... are not built of stone, is not a "stone history book" left in the history of the witness. Only China's classical architecture (including neighboring Japan, Korea and other regions) is to do with wood to the main frame of the house, belonging to the wood structure system, and therefore known as the "wood of the history of the book". Chinese and Western architecture for the choice of materials, in addition to different natural factors, but more importantly by different cultures, different concepts lead to the results, is a general reflection of the different nature of the heart in the building. The primitive economy of the West, which is mainly based on the hunting method, creates the primitive mentality of heavy materials. From the affirmation of the westerners on the stone, can be seen in the westerners seek wisdom and truth of the rational spirit, in the relationship between man and nature, emphasizing that man is the master of the world, human strength and wisdom can overcome all. China's primitive agriculture-based economy has created a primitive civilization that emphasizes choice, collection and storage. The traditional Chinese philosophy, which was developed from this, advocates the cosmology of "the unity of heaven and mankind". The "unity of man and nature" is the revelation of the relationship between man and nature, nature and man are closely linked to the whole, man is a link in nature, the Chinese will be selected as the basic building materials wood, it is the importance of its relationship with the affinity of life, the importance of the relationship between its traits and the life of the results.

2. The layout of the building space is different, reflecting the difference between the Chinese and Western systems of culture and character traits. From the point of view of the spatial layout of the building, Chinese architecture is the spatial pattern of closed groups, spread out on the ground plane. No matter what kind of architecture in China, from houses to palaces, almost all of them are a pattern, similar to the "courtyard" pattern. The beauty of Chinese architecture is also a "collective" beauty. For example; Beijing Ming and Qing palaces, the Ming Tombs, the Confucius Temple in Qufu that is to heavy courtyard sets and constitute a large-scale building complex, a variety of buildings before and after the left and right have a master and a guest arranged in a regular manner, reflecting the ancient Chinese social structure of the inward-looking features of the form of the patriarchal ideology and rituals and religious systems. In contrast to China, Western architecture is an open and monolithic spatial pattern that develops into a high altitude. To similar years of construction, expansion of the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Louvre in Paris, the former is composed of thousands of individual houses of the magnificent, imposing architectural groups, around the axis to form a series of courtyards, the plane spread unusually large; the latter is the use of the "volume" of the upward expansion and vertical superposition of the huge and rich in changes in the The latter uses "volume" upward expansion and vertical stacking, by the huge and rich in changes in the form, forming a towering, majestic and spectacular whole. Moreover, from the beginning of the ancient Greek and Roman city states, the extensive use of colonnades, doors and windows, increase information exchange and transparency, to the external space to surround the building, in order to highlight the physical image of the building. This is related to the fact that Westerners often interacted with each other through sea travel and practiced slave democracy within their societies at a very early stage. The outward-looking character of ancient Greece and the spirit of science and democracy influenced not only ancient Rome, but also the whole Western world. At the same time, if the Chinese architecture occupies the ground, then the Western architecture occupies the space, such as the Colosseum in Rome can be 48 meters high, "Pantheon" is 43.5 meters high, the medieval cathedral of St. Sophia, the central hall of the dome up to 60 meters above the ground. Renaissance architecture in the most brilliant works of St. Peter's Basilica, 137 meters high. This solemn and majestic buildings certainly reflect the fervor of the Western worship of God, more is the use of advanced scientific and technological achievements to give people a kind of spirit of upward mobility.

3. The development of the building is different, showing the difference between Chinese and Western attitudes towards innovation. From the architectural development process, Chinese architecture is conservative. According to the literature, China's architectural form and the materials used in 3000 years unchanged. Unlike China, Western architecture has often sought change, and its structures and materials have evolved more dramatically. From the first temples on the Acropolis in Greece to the present day has been more than 2,500 years, during the period of the whole of Europe's ancient architectural forms continue to evolve and change. From the ancient Greek classical columns to the ancient Roman arches, vaulted roof technology, from the Gothic architecture of the pointed coupons, cross arches and flying buttresses technology to the European Renaissance era of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, no matter from the image, proportion, decorative and spatial layout, have undergone great changes. This reflects the Westerners, dare to find a new way, the spirit of innovation.

4. The difference in architectural value, showing the difference between Chinese and Western aesthetic concepts. From the point of view of the value of the building, Chinese architecture focuses on information, Western architecture focuses on real objects. The structure of ancient Chinese architecture, not by calculation, not by quantitative analysis, not by formal logic of the method of conceptualization, but by the master with the apprentice way, word of hand, by practice, by experience. Our understanding of ancient architecture, especially before the Tang Dynasty, is mostly based on information from the literature. The mausoleums of the emperors and the houses of the people were all operated according to the feng shui and the principle of the five elements of life and death. In order to seek harmony with heaven and earth and all natural things, in order to tend to good fortune, attract wealth and good fortune, in borrowing the power of the landscape, the settlement building seat by the mountains, facing the plains. This kind of "looking up to observe astronomy and geography" is a unique culture in China. In ancient Greece, Pythagoras and Euclid pioneered geometrical aesthetics and mathematical logic, and Aristotle laid the foundation for the rationalist "harmony and beauty" of "unity" and "order", which brought a decisive influence on the structure of the whole Western civilization. The structure of the entire Western civilization has brought a decisive impact on all the sciences and arts, and their paths have been determined by this concept of destiny. Turning to the history of Western architecture, it is not difficult to find that the Western architectural beauty of the shape of the consciousness is in fact geometric; Athens, the shape of the Parthenon "control line" for the two squares; from the dome of the Pantheon in Rome to the ground, can be embedded into a 43.3-meter diameter sphere; Milan Cathedral "control line" is a square; the "control line" is a square; the "control line" is a square. control line" of the Milan Cathedral is a square triangle, the fa?ade of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris is a square, its central arch and the "control line" is two whole circles. Even like landscaping, flowers, plants and trees and other natural objects, after artificial trimming, deliberately carved, also presented a neat and orderly geometric pattern, it is free of nature, harnessing the natural "artificial beauty", with the Chinese garden that "although made by man, just like from the sky "The natural mood, forming a sharp contrast. As early as 2000 years ago in ancient Rome, Augustus period of architectural theorist Vitruvius in his famous "building ten books" put forward the "applicable, strong, beautiful" this classic view of the three elements of the building, is the posterity as a guideline for generations. 17th century architect Henry Wooten put forward the excellent buildings must have three conditions; "strong, strong, beautiful", and the Chinese garden that "although made by the sky" natural mood, forming a contrast. The early 17th century architect Henry Wooten suggested that good buildings must have three conditions; "solidity, utility and pleasure." Westerners regard "solidity" and "utility" as the first and second principles for evaluating good buildings. Therefore, when China's ancient buildings were destroyed or "disappeared" with the passage of time, the buildings of ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt in the West are still well preserved, and they interpret their own culture with real objects. Through the comparison of Chinese and Western architecture can be seen in the concept of Western culture, institutional culture, material culture on the different.