Characteristics and Cultural Connotation of No.87 Xijiaominxiang Lane, Xicheng District

There is another door installed between the two pillars, which is called the "screen door". In addition to major ceremonies in the family, such as marriage, funeral, marriage, marriage, the need to open the screen door, the rest of the time, the screen door is closed, people in and out of the second door, not through the screen door, but walk through the screen door on both sides of the side door or through the two sides of the door to the inner courtyard and the various rooms of the copy of the corridor. This function of the door, fully played both inside and outside the house, but also strictly divide the space of the special role.

East and West ear room - can be single door, can also be connected with the main room, generally used as a bedroom or study. East and west compartments are inhabited by the younger generation, compartments are also a bright two dark, in the center of a living room, on both sides of the bedroom. One of the rooms on the south side can also be divided and used as a kitchen or dining room.

The back room--The back room, or back room, is often built in medium-sized courtyards and above, and is mainly used for women who have not yet left the court or for maids to live in.

Bricks in Beijing houses

The bricks used in Beijing civilian houses are usually whole bricks with broken tips. What do you mean by "whole brick"? This brick is nine inches long, four inches wide, four inches five, two inches thick. Brick front center has a deep groove throughout the length, why set up this deep groove it, the connoisseur said: in order to catch mud. Brick is dark gray, larger and wider than the current mechanism of red brick, but slightly thinner. In addition to the strip of bricks, Beijing housing construction in not a key part of just more broken bricks or half a head of bricks.

These varying sizes and shapes, lack of face and corner of the weights and tiles through the hands of Beijing masons, suddenly shine. No matter how small the bricks and tiles, in the hands of Beijing masons will have a use. We commonly see the walls of small yards and courtyards of Beijing residents, mostly made of bricks and broken bricks. Laying this kind of wall first with the strip of bricks out of the four corners, the middle with broken bricks and mud into the plug, slightly inward, the purpose is to be in the broken bricks and mud on the outside of a layer of wind, rain and snow on the cover of the white plaster, one of the increase in the use of the house life, the second is beautiful and generous, and the third is to save labor and materials. This kind of wall once completed, in front of you this wall is the corners neat as a brick, the center of the snow-white wall, let people look very decent. There is one thing you have to remember, don't poke at it. A dismantled all broken bricks and loess, more than two years inside the brick wall there is a turtle it! When this little worm moves, the fine yellow soil is like a cave stream, flowing down intermittently. Broken bricks with the best performance of the wall building is a door into the shadow wall, the shadow wall on the painting, write "peace" or "blessed" words, the shadow wall in front of the pier on a few pots of flowers and trees, fish tanks, oleander, that is, the monkey's fiery eyes, but also can not see the embroidered pillow in the The "stuffing" live ah!

Beijing people housing taboos

If: "money does not live in the southeast room, winter is not warm to summer is not cool" is the old Beijing people choose housing conditions, then there are more old Beijing people in the housing unacceptable, that is, the number and location of a special object in Beijing to live in the role of.

The Beijingers called the courtyard where the living people lived the yangzhai, which symbolizes vitality and life force. The place where the dead are kept, the cemetery, is called the yin house. Pine and cypress trees are usually planted in the yin residence to symbolize the immortality of the dead. In addition, planting pine and cypress trees also serves the purpose of soil and water conservation, and protects the gravesite. Of course, people plant trees next to the graves of their loved ones to make it easier to find them, and once they grow up, they can see the place they want to visit from miles away.

Contrary to the graveyard, the old Beijingers never planted pine and cypress trees into the courtyard, and similarly, even if it is the most delicious mulberry, the tree will not be favored by the owner, and as for the refreshing pears, the tree will be rejected in the front yard and the back yard. Why is it, probably "mulberry" and "funeral", "pear" and "away from" harmonized just. Beijing people have a saying: "mulberry pine, cypress, pear and acacia, do not enter the House of the King," is the truth.

Therefore, Beijing's mansion in a variety of Xifu begonias, pomegranates in Lintong, spring peach jujube tree, etc., it can be said that: spring can enjoy the flowers, summer can be cool, taste the fresh fruit in the fall, with the "Spring and Autumn" to sum up the trees in the Beijing mansion is the most appropriate but.

Beijing people also taboo yard ground than the hutongs, the street ground low, the reason is that a door to jump toad pit, and go out from low to high, like climbing, obviously not auspicious. In addition, the number of words, singular is unlucky, the general public can not accept. Buy a box to buy a pair, buy a chair to buy two, cap tube to buy a pair and so on. But there are also to singular, that is, the north room to singular, or three, or five, if there are four places to cover the three big rooms, each side of the cover half a room, the name: "four broken five". As for the east and west rooms, also more than three prevail, the purpose is to produce a central axis in the combination of buildings in the courtyard, this line is like a spine on the human body, is the most important feng shui source in the courtyard. Because of this, the even number in Beijing residential construction is not appetizing, so, Beijing appeared so a proverb, "four six not material".

The old Beijing door pier

"Little boy, sitting on the door pier, crying for a daughter-in-law ......"

Door pier, also known as the door seat, the door platform, placed at the bottom of the gate door axle, the role of which is to support the bottom of the gate rotating axle - under the door codification. In ancient times, the battlefield commonly used weapons at the bottom of the codification, such as knife codification, gun codification, long lance codification, spear codification, hammer codification and so on. Lower door codification because of carrying the weight of a door, so the user requires the door codification contact object to have a certain degree of hardness. Ordinary people mostly use wood, for the use of the long and flexible rotation, people often add some oil in the rotation of the door codification, in order to promote its flexibility. One is easy and no sound, the second is not easy to corrode the shaft of the door codification.

Slightly more elaborate door, the door will be compiled below the stone outward, backward lengthening. From the shape, there are made of rectangular like people sleeping with a pillow, people say that this door pier is also called the door pillow. If the outside is made into a drum, people call the door drum. In general, Beijing people still always call them door piers. Every summer, a hot outside, and the doorway is very cool, the wind makes people love to chat next to the drum. Children are afraid of heat, women will hold the child in the door pier cool or wait for the family back. I have nothing to do, there will be a children's song at the beginning of this article.

Because the door drum and door pillows have a few larger surface, people in order to beautify and appreciate, they carved a variety of patterns on it. Commonly, there are ten thousand character patterns, but also carved out auspicious patterns. Such as, double lions playing in the water. Leopard foot pattern, glory and wealth, Ruyi head, bamboo and plum double happiness, bamboo peace, cloud head, back to the pattern, bagua and taiji figure.

The stone beasts carved on the door pillows in Beijing residential houses are mostly stone lions, which are found in front of almost every small and medium-sized courtyard. Although many of them were smashed during the Cultural Revolution, there are too many of them in Beijing, so now you can see intact door pillows and extremely fine carved stone lions in large and small hutongs in downtown Beijing. Why carve stone lions in front of the door? Lion for the king of beasts, so the door pillow carved stone lion also shows the status of the owner of the house. Stone lion carving process is very high, male and female lions have their own characteristics, or embroidered balls, or petting young lions, or squatting, or sitting, or back, or lying down, different postures, each with its own style and favorite.

The pattern above the door pillows and door drums depends on the design of the whole house, because the door pillows and door drums are indispensable parts of the Beijing residential gate series, so when carving the pattern above the door pillows, we should consider the work with the gate's width and narrowness, and the overall combination of the shadow wall, the doorway, the pendant door, the moon gate, and the door hairpin, and only by organically combining them can we show the integration of the building with the owner's status, and even the owner's status, and even the owner's status. The integration of the status, and even the characteristics and preferences of the owner are expressed in the best way. As the saying goes, "a door is like a person", probably this is what it means!

Door Gods in Old Beijing

There are many door gods in houses all over the country, and Beijing, as a premier cultural area, is even more so. Door god is one of the most believed deities in our country and also in Beijing folklore, and its long history, wide circulation and variety are the most prominent among the folk deities. Only the old Beijing proudly stood on the door of thousands of households on the door of the god of the book recorded later.

First, the ghosts of the door god door god for the gods and Yu Shi, golden chicken and tiger. Legend has it that there is a big peach tree in the mountain of Peach Yudu, Panchu 3,000 miles. On the golden chicken, there are two gods, a Yu, a base, and the reed rope, waiting for the ominous ghosts, birds and strange genera. It is the first day of the year, the sun shines on the golden chicken, the chicken is loud. So all the chickens in the world are thus song, the golden chicken flew down, eat all the evil spirits, ghosts fear of the golden chicken, all away, the world was then safe. It is also said that the two gods of Yubi caught the ghosts and then tied them with reed cords and executed them as syrupy tigers. Beijing people in the old days after the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year, they will stick the door god, decorated with peach people, hanging reed rope, painted tiger on the door, the door around the two lamps, a symbol of the tiger's eye, in order to get rid of ominous, to suppress the evil and drive away the ghosts.

Second, the blessing of the God of the door is not the protector of the portal, specifically for the blessing and use, the central figure for the blessing of the heavenly officials. There are also Liu Hai play golden toad, small fortune child God of Fortune. Offerings, posters of the family are mostly business people, hope that from the blessing of the door god there to get fame, fortune, Jade deer bat Xi, BMW bottle saddle, all take their own, to meet the auspicious happiness.

Break perfect, more suitable for residential requirements, the formation of the quadrangle form we see today.

Beijing's courtyard so famous, but also because of its composition is unique, in the traditional Chinese residential architecture has a typical and representative. Most of China's residential buildings are courtyard houses, the southern region of the residential courtyard is very small, the surrounding houses into one, called "a seal". This kind of housing is suitable for the southern climate conditions, ventilation and lighting are less than ideal.

Beijing's courtyard, the courtyard is spacious and sparse, the four sides of the houses are independent of each other, each with a corridor connection, living is very convenient.

The courtyard is a closed house, there is only a street door to the outside, closed door to the world, with a strong sense of privacy is very suitable for exclusive living. Inside the courtyard, the four houses are open to the direction of the courtyard, the family inside the family and the beauty of the happy. Because of the spaciousness of the courtyard, trees and flowers can be planted, birds and fish can be kept, and rocks can be stacked to create a landscape. The residents not only enjoy comfortable housing, but also share a beautiful world given by nature.

The Beijing courtyard house is famous because it is a residential building, but it contains deep cultural connotations and is a carrier of traditional Chinese culture.

The construction of the courtyard is extremely concerned about feng shui, from the choice of land, positioning to determine the specific size of each building, according to feng shui theory.

Feng Shui doctrine, the actual ancient Chinese building environment, is an important part of the traditional Chinese architectural theory, this theory of Feng Shui, for thousands of years has been guiding the creation of ancient Chinese activities. In addition to the doctrine of feng shui, courtyard decorations, carvings, paintings also everywhere reflecting folk customs and traditional culture, performance of certain historical conditions of people on the pursuit of happiness, beauty, affluence, good luck. Such as bats, the character for longevity of the composition of the pattern, meaning "good fortune and longevity", to the vase inserted in the pattern of the moonflower means "four seasons of peace", and embedded in the door tube, the door head of the auspicious words, attached to the cornice pillar pillar couplets, as well as hanging in the interior of the painting and calligraphy, is also a collection of wise and philosophical ancient teachings. It is a collection of ancient teachings of sages and philosophers, ancient and modern quotations, or glorify the beauty of the mountains and rivers, or the study of the world, or the aspirations of the swan, elegant and full of rich cultural flavor, the courtyard, as if stepping into a temple of traditional Chinese culture.

In the old Beijing, in addition to the Forbidden City, the Royal Court, temples and royal palaces and government offices, a large number of buildings, that is, the countless people's homes.

"The old news under the sun" in the quoted Yuan poem: "cloud open coccyx three thousand zhang, fog dark building million homes." The "million homes" are what are known today as Beijing's courtyard houses.

Why is it called "courtyard"? Because this kind of residence has the main house (north room), inverted seat (south seat), the east room and the west room four houses in the four sides of the enclosure, forming a mouth-shaped, inside a central courtyard, so this courtyard type of residence is known as the courtyard.

The courtyard has a fairly long history in China, according to the existing cultural relics data analysis, as early as more than two thousand years ago, there are quadrangle form of architecture appeared.

In the course of historical development, the Chinese people are particularly fond of the quadrangle as a form of architecture, and not only palaces, temples, and governmental offices use quadrangles, but also residential houses around the world also widely use quadrangles. However, as soon as people mention the courtyard, they will naturally think of the Beijing courtyard.

The Beijing courtyard house is very typical in its regularity, and among the various types of courtyards, the Beijing courtyard house can represent its main characteristics.

First of all, the center courtyard of the Beijing courtyard house is basically a square in plan, which is not the case with some houses in other regions. For example, in Shanxi and Shaanxi, the courtyard is a long north-south and narrow east-west longitudinal rectangle, while in Sichuan and other places, the courtyard is mostly a long east-west and narrow north-south horizontal rectangle.

Secondly, Beijing courtyard houses in the east, west, south and north of the four directions of the room direction of the houses are independent of each other, the east and west compartments and the main house, the inverted seat of the building itself is not connected, and the main house, compartments, the inverted seat of the house and all the houses for a layer, there is no building, connecting these houses is only the corner of the veranda. In this way, Beijing courtyard house from the air bird's-eye view, it is like four small box around a courtyard.

And many areas of the south of the courtyard, the houses on all sides of the building, and in the courtyard of the four corners, the houses are connected, east and west, north and south of the four sides of the house and does not exist independently. So the South will be called the courtyard "patio", see Jiangnan courtyard is small, like a "well", inevitably make people think of the name, associated with "the frog at the bottom of the well", The idiom of "sitting in a well and watching the sky".

The Beijing courtyard house is a real courtyard, spacious and open, sunny, with a wide field of vision.

The Beijing courtyard house is rich in cultural connotations, fully reflecting the traditional Chinese concept of residence.

For example, the Northeast Han set of compound (Northeast rural courtyard), in line with the first two features of the Beijing courtyard, but does not have the rich cultural connotation of this feature.

For example, the Northeast courtyard's single-fan door (the traditional Chinese form of double-fan door), the "inverted gate" behind the hall as a storage room and other practices make people feel that it is the continuation of the poor people's habits brought by immigrants from Shandong in the Qing Dynasty. The above features are the reason why people tend to be more and more familiar with the custom of the poor. It is because of the above characteristics, people tend to Beijing courtyard houses as a typical representative form of Chinese courtyard houses.

The Beijing courtyard house has existed for hundreds of years in history because it has advantages that are difficult to compare with other residential buildings. Today, when the pace of urban modernization is gradually accelerating, and the rise of overlapping high-rise buildings, people - especially the old Beijingers who have grown up in Beijing for generations - will have a special feeling of attachment to the courtyard.

Beijing courtyard houses, this ancient working people carefully created the form of housing, along with people recuperating for hundreds of years, leaving the impression of people's minds is very deep, leaving the legacy of history is very rich.

Overview of Beijing Courtyard

Beijing Courtyard, as the main architectural form of the old Beijing people's residence for generations, is famous all over the world.

The first thing that makes Beijing courtyard houses famous is their long history.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, when the capital of Beijing was formally established and large-scale planning and construction of the capital city began, the courtyard houses appeared at the same time with the palaces, government offices, neighborhoods, alleys and hutongs in Beijing. According to the end of the Yuan Dynasty Xiong Mengxiang's "analysis of the Jin Zhi": "the system of the street, from the south to the north is called the warp, from east to west is called the weft. Street twenty-four steps wide, three hundred and eighty-four fire alleys, twenty-nine streets through." Here the so-called "street through" that we call today's hutongs, hutongs and hutongs between the land for the subjects to build homes.

At that time, the Yuan Shizu Kublai "imperial edict of the old city residents of the old over the capital, to the cost of high (rich people) and the job (in the court for the job) first, is customized to the land of eight acres for a point," divided into the Beijing government officials JIA camping residential, Beijing traditional courtyard houses large-scale formation that began. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing courtyard houses have gone through vicissitudes, but this basic form of residence has been formed, and constantly improved, more suitable for the requirements of the residence, the formation of the courtyard houses we see today.

Beijing's courtyard is famous because of its unique composition, which is typical and representative of traditional Chinese residential architecture. Most of China's residential architecture is the inner courtyard type of residence, the southern region of the residential courtyard is very small, surrounded by houses connected into one, called "a seal". This kind of house is suitable for the climate conditions in the south, and the ventilation and lighting are not ideal.

Beijing's courtyard, the courtyard is spacious and sparse, the four sides of the houses are independent of each other, each with a corridor connection, living is very convenient.

The courtyard is a closed house, with only one street door to the outside world, and a world of its own behind closed doors, with a strong sense of privacy ideal for exclusive living. Inside the courtyard, the houses on all sides open their doors to the direction of the courtyard, so the family can live in harmony and beauty inside. Because of the spaciousness of the courtyard, trees and flowers can be planted, birds and fish can be kept, and rocks can be stacked to create a landscape. The residents not only enjoy comfortable housing, but also share the beautiful world given by nature.

Beijing's courtyard houses are famous because, although they are residential buildings, they contain profound cultural connotations and are the carriers of traditional Chinese culture.

The construction of the courtyard is extremely concerned about feng shui, from the choice of land, positioning to determine the specific size of each building, according to the theory of feng shui to carry out.

Feng Shui theory, actually the ancient Chinese building environment, is an important part of the traditional Chinese architectural theory, this Feng Shui theory, for thousands of years has been guiding the ancient Chinese building activities. In addition to the feng shui theory, the courtyard decoration, carving, painting also everywhere reflects the folk customs and traditional culture, performance of certain historical conditions of people on the pursuit of happiness, beauty, wealth, good luck. Such as bats, the character for longevity of the composition of the pattern, meaning "good fortune and longevity", to the vase inserted in the pattern of the moonflower means "four seasons of peace", and embedded in the door tube, the door head of the auspicious words, attached to the cornice pillar pillar couplets, as well as hanging in the interior of the painting and calligraphy, is also a collection of wise and philosophical ancient teachings. It is a collection of ancient teachings of sages and philosophers, and famous lines from the past and present, or extolling the beauty of mountains and rivers, or inscribing the learning of the world, or chanting the will of the swan, elegant and full of rich cultural flavor, the courtyard is like stepping into a temple of traditional Chinese culture.

Beijing in the old days, in addition to the Forbidden City, the Royal Court, temples and royal palaces and government offices, a large number of buildings, that is, the countless people's homes.

"The old news under the sun" in the Yuan quoted the poem: "cloud open coccyx three thousand zhang, fog dark building a million homes." The "million homes" were what are now known as Beijing's courtyard houses.

Why is it called a "courtyard"? Because this type of residence has a main house (north room), inverted seat (south seat), east room and west room four houses in four sides of the enclosure, forming a mouth-shaped, inside a central courtyard, so this courtyard type of residence is known as the courtyard.

The courtyard has a long history in China, and according to the analysis of existing cultural relics, there were buildings in the form of quadrangles as early as 2,000 years ago.

In the course of historical development, the Chinese people have been particularly fond of the quadrangle as a form of architecture, and not only did palaces, temples, and governmental offices use quadrangles, but also residential houses around the world also made extensive use of quadrangles. However, as soon as people mention the courtyard, they will naturally think of the Beijing Courtyard.

The Beijing courtyard house is very typical in its regularity, and among the various kinds of courtyards, the Beijing courtyard house can represent its main characteristics.

First of all, the central courtyard of the Beijing courtyard house is basically a square in plan, which is not the case with some of the houses in other regions. For example, the courtyard of the courtyard houses in Shanxi and Shaanxi is a long vertical rectangle from north to south and narrow from east to west, while the courtyards of the courtyard houses in Sichuan and other places are mostly horizontal rectangles from east to west and narrow from north to south.

Secondly, the Beijing courtyard houses in the four directions of east, west, south and north are independent of each other, and the east and west compartments are not connected with the main house and the inverted seat of the building itself, and the main house, the compartments, and the inverted seat of the building and all the other houses are one-storey, with no building, and the connection of these houses is only the corridor at the corner. In this way, Beijing courtyard house from the air bird's-eye view, it is like four small box enclosing a courtyard.

And many areas in the south of the courtyard, the houses on all sides of the building, and in the courtyard of the four corners, the houses are connected to the east and west, north and south of the four sides of the house does not exist independently. So the South will be called the courtyard "patio", see Jiangnan courtyard is small, like a "well", inevitably make people think of the name, associated with "the frog at the bottom of the well", The idiom of "sitting in a well and watching the sky".

The Beijing courtyard house is a real courtyard, spacious and open, sunny, with a wide field of vision.

The Beijing courtyard house is rich in cultural connotations, fully reflecting the traditional Chinese concept of living.

For example, the Han Chinese compound in the Northeast (the Northeast Rural Courtyard) meets the first two characteristics of the Beijing courtyard house, but does not have the characteristic of rich cultural connotations.

For example, the single door of the Northeastern siheyuan (the traditional double door in China), the "inverted gate" behind the hall as a storage room, etc., all give the impression that they are the continuation of the poor people's habits brought by immigrants from Shandong and other places in the Qing Dynasty. The above features are the reason why people tend to be more and more familiar with the custom of the poor. It is because of the above characteristics, people tend to Beijing courtyard house as a typical representative form of Chinese courtyard houses.

The Beijing courtyard house has existed for hundreds of years in history because it has advantages that are difficult to compare with other residential buildings. Today, when the pace of urban modernization is gradually accelerating and the rise of overlapping high-rise buildings, people - especially the old Beijingers who have grown up in the capital for generations - feel a special kind of nostalgia for the courtyard.

Beijing courtyard, this ancient working people carefully created the form of housing, accompanied by people rest and recuperation for hundreds of years, leaving a deep impression on people's minds, leaving the legacy of history is very rich.

Overview of Beijing Courtyard

Beijing Courtyard, as the main architectural form of the old Beijing people's residence for generations, is famous all over the world.

The first thing that makes Beijing courtyard houses famous is their long history.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, when the capital of Beijing was formally established and large-scale planning and construction of the capital city began, the courtyard houses appeared at the same time with the palaces, government offices, neighborhoods, alleys and hutongs in Beijing. According to the end of the Yuan Dynasty Xiong Mengxiang's "analysis of the Jin Zhi": "the system of the street, from the south to the north is called the warp, from east to west is called the weft. Street twenty-four steps wide, three hundred and eighty-four fire alleys, twenty-nine streets through." Here the so-called "street through" that we call today's hutongs, hutongs and hutongs between the land for the subjects to build homes.

At that time, the Yuan Shizu Kublai "imperial edict of the old city residents of the old over the capital, to the cost of high (rich people) and the job (in the court for the first), is customized to the land of eight acres for a point," divided into the Beijing government officials JIA camping residential, Beijing traditional courtyard houses large-scale formation that began. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing courtyard houses have gone through vicissitudes, but this basic form of residence has been formed, and constantly improved, more suitable for the requirements of the residence, the formation of the courtyard houses we see today.

Beijing's courtyard is famous because of its unique composition, which is typical and representative of traditional Chinese residential architecture. Most of China's residential architecture is the inner courtyard type of residence, the southern region of the residential courtyard is very small, surrounded by houses connected into one, called "a seal". This kind of house is suitable for the climate conditions in the south, and the ventilation and lighting are not ideal.

Beijing's courtyard, the courtyard is spacious and sparse, the four sides of the houses are independent of each other, each with a corridor connection, living is very convenient.

The courtyard is a closed house, with only one street door to the outside world, and a world of its own behind closed doors, with a strong sense of privacy ideal for exclusive living. Inside the courtyard, the houses on all sides open their doors to the direction of the courtyard, so the family can live in harmony and beauty inside. Because of the spaciousness of the courtyard, trees and flowers can be planted, birds and fish can be kept, and rocks can be stacked to create a landscape. The residents not only enjoy comfortable housing, but also share the beautiful world given by nature.

Beijing's courtyard houses are famous because, although they are residential buildings, they contain profound cultural connotations and are the carriers of traditional Chinese culture.

The construction of the courtyard is extremely concerned about feng shui, from the choice of land, positioning to determine the specific size of each building, according to the theory of feng shui to carry out.

Feng Shui theory, the actual ancient Chinese building environment, is an important part of the traditional Chinese architectural theory, this Feng Shui theory, for thousands of years has been guiding the ancient Chinese building activities. In addition to the feng shui theory, the courtyard decoration, carving, painting also everywhere reflects the folk customs and traditional culture, performance of certain historical conditions of people on the pursuit of happiness, beauty, wealth, good luck. Such as bats, the character for longevity of the composition of the pattern, meaning "good fortune and longevity", to the vase inserted in the pattern of the moonflower means "four seasons of peace", and embedded in the door tube, the door head of the auspicious words, attached to the cornice pillar pillar couplets, as well as hanging in the interior of the painting and calligraphy, is also a collection of wise and philosophical ancient teachings. It is a collection of ancient teachings of sages and philosophers, and famous lines from the past and present, or extolling the beauty of mountains and rivers, or inscribing the learning of the world, or chanting the will of the swan, elegant and full of rich cultural flavor, the courtyard is like stepping into a temple of traditional Chinese culture.

Beijing in the old days, in addition to the Forbidden City, the Royal Court, temples and royal palaces and government offices, a large number of buildings, that is, the countless people's homes.

"The old news under the sun" in the Yuan quoted the poem: "cloud open coccyx three thousand zhang, fog dark building a million homes." The "million homes" were what are now known as Beijing's courtyard houses.

Why is it called a "courtyard"? Because this type of residence has a main house (north room), inverted seat (south seat), east room and west room four houses in four sides of the enclosure, forming a mouth-shaped, inside a central courtyard, so this courtyard type of residence is known as the courtyard.

The courtyard has a long history in China, and according to the analysis of existing cultural relics, there were buildings in the form of quadrangles as early as 2,000 years ago.

In the course of historical development, the Chinese people have been particularly fond of the quadrangle as a form of architecture, and not only did palaces, temples, and governmental offices use quadrangles, but also residential houses around the world also made extensive use of quadrangles. However, as soon as people mention the courtyard, they will naturally think of the Beijing Courtyard.

The Beijing courtyard house is very typical in its regularity, and among the various kinds of courtyards, the Beijing courtyard house can represent its main characteristics.

First of all, the central courtyard of the Beijing courtyard house is basically a square in plan, which is not the case with some of the houses in other regions. For example, the courtyard of the courtyard houses in Shanxi and Shaanxi is a long vertical rectangle from north to south and narrow from east to west, while the courtyards of the courtyard houses in Sichuan and other places are mostly horizontal rectangles from east to west and narrow from north to south.

Secondly, the Beijing courtyard houses in the four directions of east, west, south and north are independent of each other, and the east and west compartments are not connected with the main house and the inverted seat of the building itself, and the main house, the compartments, and the inverted seat of the building and all the other houses are one-storey, with no building, and the connection of these houses is only the corridor at the corner. In this way, Beijing courtyard house from the air bird's-eye view, it is like four small box enclosing a courtyard.

And many areas of the south of the courtyard, the houses on all sides of the building, and in the courtyard of the four corners, the houses are connected to the east and west, north and south of the four sides of the house does not exist independently. So the South will be called the courtyard "patio", see Jiangnan courtyard is small, like a "well", inevitably make people think of the name, associated with "the frog at the bottom of the well", The idiom of "sitting in a well and watching the sky".

The Beijing courtyard house is a real courtyard, spacious and open, sunny, with a wide field of vision.

The Beijing courtyard house is rich in cultural connotations and fully embodies the traditional Chinese concept of living.