What are the characteristics of Beijing courtyard house?

Traditional houses in northern China are generally characterized by a courtyard (or patio) as the center, and a variety of rooms are arranged according to the principle of inner emptiness and outer reality and the symmetrical pattern of the central axis. Among them, the Beijing Courtyard, which has long been the seat of the capital city, naturally follows a set of strict official practices, which conforms to the needs of the family system and the religious and ethical needs of the ancient Chinese society, and is the most typical of the ancient Chinese residential buildings.

The Beijing courtyard houses are arranged symmetrically according to a north-south axis of houses and courtyards, and the main door opens at the southeast corner, which is the most auspicious "kanjia xunmen" according to feng shui and bagua directions, and can bring in good fortune. After entering the door is a wall decorated with exquisite brick carvings of the shadow wall, the main purpose of the ancient use of the shadow wall is to avoid evil spirits, from the art of space, it can increase the change of space and isolate the external line of sight, to meet the requirements of the family home on the privacy of the requirements.

Turning west is a small and narrow forecourt, and the inverted room in the south of the courtyard is used as an outer living room, a study, an accountant's room or a sundry room. The north end of the forecourt is the second door of the mansion, which is located on the central axis, the front gable left and right two columns do not fall to the ground but hanging in mid-air, the lower end of the columns carved in the shape of a flower, and thus called "hanging flower door", most of them are very ornate, is the main focus of the decoration of the mansion. Hanging flower door is separated from the inner courtyard and outer courtyard, the inner house and the outer house of a division of the door, in the hall into the courtyard, moved to the hall after the hall, become the "front of the hall after the bedding" in the pattern of the bedding door.

The main courtyard of the courtyard is inside the hanging flower gate, which is planted with flowers and trees, forming a quiet and comfortable living environment. The north side of the courtyard is facing south of the main room is the main body of the courtyard, due to the Ming and Qing Dynasty housing levels, "the people's hut but two five frame", most of them are three rooms, with adjoining rooms on both sides. Boxes are symmetrically located on both sides of the courtyard. After the main house has a small courtyard, a row of houses in the small courtyard called "cover room", as the last in the mansion.

All the houses in the courtyard are arranged according to the order of seniority: the main house is occupied by the head of the house (the eldest), and the hall in the middle is dedicated to the ancestral tablets, like a miniature ancestral hall; the rooms on both sides of the main house are for the younger generation to live in. Other houses are lower than the main house regardless of the size of the openings, depths or heights, decoration practices, etc. This arrangement creates a clear master-slave, positive and negative, internal and external relationships, highlighting the reverence of the ancestors and the power of the father, making the main house not only the center of the actual family life, but also a symbol of the family's spirit.

Another advantage of the courtyard form is that it can be expanded indefinitely. As the family's population grows or as the needs of the family grow, multiple courtyards can be formed, and there can also be cross courtyards alongside the main axes, or multiple roads juxtaposed, with corridors and walls used to connect and enclose the courtyards. This kind of residential system is in line with the ancient Chinese family tradition and its development.

In addition to the Beijing courtyard, Ji'nan and Jin-Shaan-Yu and other places, the summer heat, the courtyard into the north and south of the narrow and long, in order to shield the sun; northwest of Gansu, Qinghai, in order to protect against cold and sand, the courtyard wall is high and thick, known as the "Zhuang窠"; Northeast, sparsely populated, cold climate, in order to more sunlight, the mansion is often very wide. Adapted to the needs of the environment, all over the courtyard has different characteristics.