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How does China's architecture reflect Chinese culture?
What is Chinese architecture?
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Chinese architecture is characterized by bilateral symmetry, use of enclosed open spaces, feng shui (e.g. directional hierarchies ), a horizontal emphasis, and an allusion to various cosmological, mythological or in general symbolic elements.
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- The elements of traditional Chinese architecture
Chinese architecture, the built structures of China, specifically those found in the 18 historical provinces of China that are bounded by the Tibetan Highlands on the west, the Gobi to the north, and Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and Vietnam to the southwest.
The first communities that can be identified culturally as Chinese were settled chiefly in the basin of the Huang He (Yellow River). Gradually they spread out, influencing other tribal cultures until, by the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce), most of China was dominated by the culture that had been formed in the cradle of northern Chinese civilization. Over this area there slowly spread a common written language, a common belief in the power of heaven and the ancestral spirits to influence the living, and a common emphasis on the importance of ceremony and sacrifice to achieve harmony among heaven, nature, and humankind. These beliefs were to have a great influence on the character of Chinese art and architecture. (For the history of the region, see China.)
Because the Chinese built chiefly in timber, which is vulnerable to moisture, fire, insects, and the ravages of time, very little ancient architecture has survived. The oldest datable timber building is the small main hall of the Nanchan Temple, on Mount Wutai in Shanxi province, built sometime before 782 ce and restored in that year. Brick and stone are used for defensive walls, the arch for gates and bridges, and the vault for tombs. Only rarely has the corbeled dome (in which each successive course projects inward from the course below it) been used for temples and tombs. Single-story architecture predominates throughout northern and much of eastern China, although multistory buildings constructed around a central earthen mound (qiu) date to the late Zhou dynasty (1046–256 bce).
The basic elements in a Chinese timber building are the platform of pounded earth faced with stone or tile on which the building stands; the post-and-lintel frame (vertical posts topped by horizontal tie beams); the roof-supporting brackets and truss; and the tiled roof itself. The walls between the posts, or columns, are not load-bearing, and the intercolumnar bays (odd-numbered along the front of the building) may be filled by doors (usually doubled in larger, institutional buildings) or by brick or material such as bamboo wattle faced with plaster, or the outermost bays may be left open to create peristyles. Typically, the intercolumnar filler of bricks or plaster leaves the structural wood exposed in a half-timber manner, turning function into visible geometry. The flexible triangular truss is placed transverse to the front side of the building and defines a gable-type roof by means of a stepped-up series of elevated tie beams (tailiang, “terraced beams,” for which this entire system of architecture is named; also known as liangzhu, or “beams-and-columns”); the gable-end beams are sequentially shortened and alternate with vertical struts that bear the roof purlins and the main roof beam. The flexible proportions of the gable-end framework of struts and beams, vertical rise and horizontal span, permits the roof to take any profile desired, typically a low and rather straight silhouette in northern China before the Song dynasty (960–1279) and increasingly elevated and concave in the Song, Yuan (1206–1368), Ming (1368–1644), and Qing (1644–1911/12). The gable-end framework is typically moved inward in a prominent building and partially masked in a hip-and-gable (or half-hip) roof and completely masked in a full-hipped roof. The timber building is limited in depth by the span of the truss, with the weight of the roof growing three times with every doubling of depth; structurally, however, the building might be of any length along the front, although in theory it ought not to exceed 13 bays and may never actually have exceeded 11 bays in the more recent dynasties.
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Architecture: The Built World
A distinctively different engineering system for supporting the roof appears today mostly in the southwestern region of China, using tall, thin roof purlin-to-ground columns along the full length of the gable end and horizontal tie beams that penetrate these timber columns. Known as chuandou, this system allows for endless possibilities in the geometrical design upon the gable wall, unlike the more standardized tailiang system. In place of column-top bracketing, slanting wooden struts extend support for the eaves purlin diagonally downward to the columns. It is possible that chuandou architecture was once standard throughout much of China before the Han dynasty and that it retreated to that region with the disappearance of tall timber in the north and with the arrival of the timber-saving bracketing system that gradually came to characterize most traditional Chinese architecture.
The origin of the distinctive curve of the roof, which first appeared in China about the 6th century ce, is not fully understood, although a number of theories have been put forward. The most likely is that it was borrowed, for purely aesthetic reasons, from China’s Southeast Asian neighbours, who cover their houses with atap (leaves of the nipa palm [Nypa]) or split bamboo, which tend to sag naturally, presenting a picturesque effect. The upswept eaves at the corners of the Chinese roof, however, do have a structural function in reducing what would otherwise be an excessive overhang at that point.
Learn about the unique and time-honored architectural tradition of China, dating back to the Zhou era 2,500 years ago. Discover how Chinese architecture reflects Chinese culture and adapts to the environment, and explore the different types and decor of buildings.
Oct 24, 2017 · Walled compounds, raised pavilions, wooden columns and panelling, yellow glazed roof tiles, landscaped gardens, and a careful application of town planning and use of space are all notable features of the architecture of ancient China, with many of them still playing an important part in modern architecture across East Asia.
- Mark Cartwright
6 days ago · Chinese architecture is mainly characterized by walled compounds, landscaped gardens, raised pavilions, paneling, yellow-glazed roof tiles, vertical pillars, and wooden columns. Most of these features are still essential to modern architecture across East Asia.
Jan 16, 2023 · Learn about the origins, characteristics, and influences of Chinese architecture, from ancient to modern times. Explore the elements of symmetry, open spaces, hierarchy, horizontality, and cosmology in Chinese buildings and gardens.
Surviving murals from Buddhist caves at Dunhuang and excavated royal tombs near Chang’an provide a graphic record of Tang architecture, its taste for multistory elevation, tall towers, and elaborate elevated walkways, its uncharacteristic use of brightly coloured tiles on the building surfaces, and its integration of architecture with gardens ...
