What does the horse head wall mean?

Horsehead wall, also known as wind-fire wall, firewall, firewall, etc. , especially the wall above the roof of two gables, that is, the top of the gable, because its shape resembles a horse's head, it is called "horse's head wall".

In ancient buildings, the roof is divided into front and back slopes by the middle transverse ridge, and the left and right gables are either flush with the roof or higher than the roof. When using the horse head wall, the gables on both sides are higher than the roof, and are horizontally stepped according to the slope of the roof, unlike the common gables, which are isosceles triangles above and rectangles below.

Horsehead wall is an important feature of Jiangxi architecture and Huizhou architecture. In densely populated villages, the density of residential buildings is high, which is not conducive to fire prevention. The high horse head wall can cut off the fire source in the case of fire in the adjacent residential building, so the horse head wall is also called the accumulation wall. Horsehead walls are strewn at random, usually two or three folds. Because of the front and back halls, the number of overlapping Horsehead Walls can reach as many as five, commonly known as "Five Mountains".