Chinese architecture

• Chinese architecture refers to a style of

architecture that has taken shape in East Asia
over many centuries. The structural
principles of Chinese architecture have
remained largely unchanged, the main
changes being only the decorative details.
Since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese architecture
has had a major influence on the
architectural styles of Korea, Vietnam, and
Japan.
• The architecture of China is as old as
Chinese civilization. From every source of
information—literary, graphic, exemplary—
there is strong evidence testifying to the fact
that the Chinese have always enjoyed an
indigenous system of construction that has
retained its principal characteristics from
prehistoric times to the present day
Features
• Architectural bilateral symmetry
An important feature in Chinese architecture
is its emphasis on articulation and bilateral
symmetry, which signifies balance.
• Enclosure
Contemporary Western architectural practices
typically involve surrounding a building by an
open yard on the property.
Two form of enclosed spaces
• Courtyard ( 院 ): The use of open
courtyards is a common feature in many
types of Chinese architectures
• Sky well" ( 天 井 ): Although large open
courtyards are less commonly found in
southern Chinese architecture, the concept
of a "open space" surrounded by buildings
• Hierarchical
The projected hierarchy and importance and
uses of buildings in traditional Chinese
architecture are based on the strict placement
of buildings in a property/complex.
• Horizontal emphasis
Classical Chinese buildings, especially those of
the wealthy are built with an emphasis on
breadth and less on height, with close heavy
platform and a large roof that floats over this
base, with the vertical walls not well
emphasized.
• Cosmological concepts
Chinese architecture from early times used
concepts from Chinese cosmology such as feng
shui (geomancy) and Taoism to organize
construction and layout from common
residences to imperial and religious structures
Architectural Types
Commoner
Description
• The houses of commoners, be they
bureaucrats, merchants or farmers, tended to
follow a set pattern: the center of the building
would be a shrine for the deities and the
ancestors, which would also be used during
festivities.
• On its two sides were bedrooms for the elders;
the two wings of the building (known as
"guardian dragons" by the Chinese) were for
the junior members of the family, as well as
the living room, the dining room, and the
kitchen.
The Qiao Family Compound
Qing Dynasty
• Qiáojiā Dàyuàn) is located 30 kilometers
northeast of the historic Pingyao city, China.
It is famous for being the chief location in the
film Raise the Red Lantern.
• It is a courtyard estate covering 9000 square
meters and having 313 rooms with 4000
square meters within 6 large courtyards and
19 smaller courtyards.
• Architects consider it to be one of the finest
remaining examples of imposing private
residences in northern China.
Kangbaiwan Manor in Zhengzhou
• Kangbaiwan Manor is an isolated castle
building of medieval architecture.
• Built entirely in brick, it can be dated back
to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
• It was once a large-scale landowner’s house.
There are 9 large construction groups, 310
living quarters, 31 yards and 73 caves,
magnificently decorated.
• It is divided into the storage, the workshop,
the ancestral hall and livestock rearing
areas.
FUJIAN TULOU HOUSES
• A tulou is usually a large, enclosed and
fortified earth building, most commonly
rectangular or circular in configuration,
with very thick load-bearing rammed earth
walls between three and five stories high
and housing up to 80 families.
• The whole structure resembling a small
fortified city.
• The fortified outer structures are formed by
compacting earth, mixed with stone,
bamboo, wood and other readily available
materials, to form walls up to 6 feet (1.8 m)
thick. Branches, strips of wood and bamboo
chips are often laid in the wall as additional
reinforcement.
• The result is a well-lit, well-ventilated,
windproof and earthquake-proof building
that is warm in winter and cool in summer
• Tulous usually have only one main gate,
guarded by 4–5-inch-thick (100–130 mm)
wooden doors reinforced with an outer shell
of iron plate. The top level of these earth
buildings has gun holes for defensive
purposes
Kaiping Diaolou
(early Qing Dynasty
1920s and 1930s)

Kaiping Diaolou are

fortified multi-storey
towers, generally made of
reinforced concrete
Although the diaolou served mainly as
protection against forays by bandits, a few of
them also served as living quarters

Three forms:
• Communal towers built by several families
and used as temporary refuge
• Residential towers built by individual rich
families
• Used as fortified residences, and watch
towers.
Hongcun
(Ming and Qing dynasties)
• The village is arranged in the shape of an ox
with the nearby hill (Leigang Hill)
interpreted as the head, and two trees
standing on it as the horns. Four bridges
across the Jiyin stream can be seen as the
legs whilst the houses of the village form
the body
• One of the biggest of the residences open to
visitors, Chenzhi Hall, also contains a small
mus
Xidi Village
• Xidi Village in southern Anhui Province
（ 安 徽 西 递 ） is an interesting tourist
destination; the houses here are built with
dark marbles.
• There are two clear water creeks flowing
through the old and tranquil village.
• You can see the most fabulous stone and
wood sculptures here.
• This ancient village is imbued with rich
cultural conten
Wang Family Courtyard

Wang Family
Courtyard is a master
of the Qing Dynasty
residential buildings,
built through the years
of Kangxi, Yongzheng
and Qianlong, Jiaqing
years.
• As a traditional Chinese architectural
heritage and art houses treasures, Wang
Family Courtyard has been widely hailed as
“the first Chinese residential house” and
“Chinese folk museum”.
• Jingsheng Wang’s family created a total area
of 250,000 square meters of huge building
groups, which was far larger than the area of
150,000 square meters of Beijing Royal
Palace.
Liu’s Manor
• Liu’s Manor is a typical Sichuan modern
architectural form and style manor, showing
the four characteristics of warlords,
bureaucrats, landlords in the warlord.
• The whole estate covers an area of 70,000
square meters, as a 300 meters north-south
distance of two buildings group, which has a
total of 350 houses.
The Grand Courtyard
(Ming and Qing dynasty)
One of the typical
northern china
residences with styles of
Ming and Qing dynasty
The whole manor has
more than one hundred
courtyards, four
hundred thousand
houses, and more than
fifty buildings, covering
six hundred thousand
square meters.
Imperial
 Imperial
• There were certain architectural features
that were reserved solely for buildings built
for the Emperor of China.
Features
• Use of yellow roof tiles
• The roofs are almost invariably supported
by brackets
• The wooden columns of the buildings, as
well as the surface of the walls, tend to be
red in color.
• Black is also a famous color often used in
pagodas. It was believed that the gods are
inspired by the black color to descend to the
earth.
• The Chinese five-clawed dragon,was used as
decoration on the beams, pillars, and on the
doors on Imperial architecture.
Forbidden City
Ming Dynasty - Qing Dynasty (1406 to 1420)
Description
• The Forbidden City is a rectangle,
measuring 961 metres (3,153 ft) from north
to south and 753 metres (2,470 ft) from east
to west. It consists of 980 surviving
buildings with 8,886 bays of rooms.
• However this figure may not include various
antechambers. Another common figure
points to 9,999 rooms including
antechambers; although this number is
frequently cited, it is likely an oral tradition,
and it is not supported by survey evidence.
• The Forbidden City was designed to be the
centre of the ancient, walled city of Beijing.
It is enclosed in a larger, walled area called
the Imperial City. The Imperial City is, in
turn, enclosed by the Inner City; to its
south lies the Outer City.
Walls and gates
• The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 7.9
metres (26 ft) high city wall[ and a 6 metres
(20 ft) deep by 52 metres (171 ft) wide moat.
• The walls are 8.62 metres (28.3 ft) wide at the
base, tapering to 6.66 metres (21.9 ft) at the
top.[35] These walls served as both
defensive walls and retaining walls for the
palace.
Outer Court

The Outer Court ( 外朝 ) or Front Court ( 前

朝 ) includes the southern sections, and was
used for ceremonial purposes.
Inner Court

The Inner Court is

separated from the
Outer Court by an
oblong courtyard lying
orthogonal to the City's
main axis. It was the
home of the Emperor
and his family.
Symbolism

• Yellow is the color of the Emperor. Thus

almost all roofs in the Forbidden City bear
yellow glazed tiles.
• The main halls of the Outer and Inner
courts are all arranged in groups of three –
the shape of the Qian triagram,
representing Heaven
• The sloping ridges of building roofs are
decorated with a line of statuettes led by a
man riding a phoenix and followed by an
imperial dragon.
• The layout of buildings follows ancient
customs laid down in the Classic of Rites.
Thus, ancestral temples are in front of the
palace. Storage areas are placed in the
front part of the palace complex, and
residences in the back
Religious
Generally speaking, Buddhist architecture
follows the imperial style. A large Buddhist
monastery normally has a front hall, housing
the statue of a Bodhisattva, followed by a
great hall, housing the statues of the
Buddhas. Accommodations for the monks
and the nuns are located at the two sides.
Buddhist monasteries sometimes also have
pagodas, which may house the relics of the
Gautama Buddha; older pagodas tend to be
four-sided, while later pagodas usually have
eight sides.
Three Pagodas
The Three Pagodas ( 崇 圣 寺 三 塔 ) are an
ensemble of three independent pagoda towers
arranged on the corners of an equilateral
triangle, near the town of Dali, Yunnan
province, China, dating from the time of the
Nanzhao kingdom and Kingdom of Dali.
Description

• The Three Pagodas are made of brick and

covered with white mud.
• As its name implies, the Three Pagodas
comprise three independent pagodas
forming a symmetric triangle.
• The elegant, balanced and stately style is
unique in China’s ancient Buddhist
architectures, which makes it a must-see
in the tour of Dali
• The main pagoda, known as Qianxun
Pagoda (pinyin Qian Xun Ta),
• 823-840 AD ( 劝丰佑 ) of the Nanzhao
state, is 69.6 meters (227 feet) high and is
one of the tallest pagodas in China’s history
• The central pagoda is square shaped and
composed of sixteen stories; each story has
multiple tiers of upturned eaves
• The other two sibling pagodas, built
about one hundred years later, stand to the
northwest and southwest of Qianxun
Pagoda.
• They are 42.19 meters (140 feet) high.
Different from Qianxun Pagoda, they are
solid and octagonal with ten stories.
• The center of each side of every story is
decorated with a shrine containing a
Buddha statue.
Nine Pinnacle
(Tang Dynasty 42 and 756 AD)
The Nine Pinnacle Pagoda
or Jiuding Pagoda,
sometimes translated as
"Nine Roof Pagoda") is an
8th-century pavilion-style
brick pagoda located in
central Shandong Province,
China. It is noted for its
unique roof design featuring
nine small pagodas.
Description

• The pagoda is made entirely from bricks laid

tightly with joint gaps of about 1 centimetre.
• The pagoda's floor plan is an equilateral
octagon in which all of the eight side walls
are curved inwards.
• These concave walls are another
distinguishing feature not found in other
pagodas of the period.
• The main body of the pagoda contains only
a single storey and the most elaborate
feature of the structure are nine small
pagodas that decorate the roof
• The height of these roof pagodas is 2.84
meters each.
• The ninth pagoda occupies the center of
the roof. It is almost twice as large as its
peers (5.33 meters) and its single door faces
south.
• Including these roof decorations, the total
height of the pagoda is 13.36 meters.
• The eaves of the pagoda are made from 17
layers of brick as is characteristic for the
period.
Giant Wild Goose Pagoda
(652 during the Tang Dynasty)

The structure was

rebuilt in 704 during the
reign of Empress Wu
Zetian and its exterior
brick facade was
renovated during the
Ming Dynasty
• The original pagoda was built during the
reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (r. 649-
683), then standing at a height of 54 m (177
ft).
• However, this construction of rammed earth
with a stone exterior facade eventually
collapsed five decades later.
• The ruling Empress Wu Zetian had the
pagoda rebuilt and added five new stories by
the year 704; however, a massive earthquake
in 1556 heavily damaged the pagoda and
reduced it by three stories, to its current
height of seven stories.
• The pagoda currently stands at a height of
64 m (210 ft) tall and from the top it offers
views over the current city of Xi'an.
Pagoda of Fogong Temple
(1056, Khitan-led Liao Dynasty)

The Sakyamuni Pagoda

of Fogong Temple is a
wooden Chinese pagoda
built in 1056, during the
Khitan-led Liao Dynasty.
• The pagoda stands on a 4 m (13 ft) tall stone
platform, has a 10 m (33 ft) tall steeple, and
reaches a total height of 67.31 m (220.83 ft)
tall; it is the oldest existent fully wooden
pagoda still standing in China.
Features
• The pagoda features fifty-four different
kinds of bracket arms in its construction,
the greatest amount for any Liao Dynasty
structure.
• Between each outer story of the pagoda is a
mezzanine layer where the bracket arms are
located on the exterior.
• From the exterior, the pagoda seems to have
only five stories and two sets of rooftop
eaves for the first story, yet the pagoda's
interior reveals that it has nine stories in all.
• The four hidden stories can be indicated
from the exterior by the pagoda's pingzuo
(terrace balconies).
• A ring of columns support the lowest
outstretching eaved roof on the base floor,
while the pagoda also features interior
support columns.
• A statue of the Buddha Sakyamuni sits
prominently in the center of the first floor of
the pagoda, with an ornate zaojing (caisson)
above its head (the pagoda is named
Sakyamuni Pagoda due to this statue).
• A zaojing is also carved into the ceiling of
every story of the pagoda.[11] The windows
on the eight sides of the pagoda provide
views of the countryside, including Mount
Heng and the Songgan River. On a clear day,
the pagoda can be seen from a distance of 30
km (19 mi).
Liuhe Pagoda
Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127)

Liuhe Pagoda literally Six

Harmonies Pagoda, is a
multi-story Chinese
pagoda in southern
Hangzhou, Zhejiang
province, China
Description

• The pagoda is octagonal in shape and some

59.89 metres (196.5 ft) in height, it also has
the appearance of being a thirteen-storey
structure, though it only has seven interior
stories.
• There is a spiral staircase leading to the top
floor and upon each of the seven ceilings are
carved and painted figures including animals,
flowers, birds and characters.
• Each story of the pagoda consists of four
elements, the exterior walls, a zigzagged
corridor, the interior walls and a small
chamber.
• Viewed from outside, the pagoda appears to
be layered-bright on the upper surface and
dark underneath. That is a harmonious
alternation of light and shade.
Linxia-Huasi-Gongbei
1055 AD
The tallest pre-modern
building in China was built
for both religious and
martial purposes. The Liaodi
Pagoda stands at a height of
84 m (275 ft), and although it
served as the crowning
pagoda of the Kaiyuan
monastery in old Dingzhou,
Hebei.
• The architecture of the mosques and
gongbei tomb shrines of China's Muslims
often combines traditional Chinese styles
with Middle Eastern influences.
END