History of Chinese Architecture

Primitive people lived in natural caves before they learned to build houses. The earliest primitive shelter found in China belonged to Peking Man who existed between a million and 300,000 years ago.

As human intelligence increased, primitive people learned to excavate caves as their homes. Such cave dwellings were called "den residence" by the ancient historians, and many remain in use in the Loess Plateau of north and northwest China.

Gradually, primitive people also learned to make dwellings out of branches and thatch, which were called "nest residence". Chinese mythology ascribed the invention of such dwellings to a demigod named Youchaoshi. Archaeological finds showed that there were mainly two types of "nest" dwellings in Neolithic China: one was constructed over a shallow pit, the other on a platform of poles.

The pit-style houses, square or circular in shape, used the inside bank of the pit as the walls and one or several thick pillars to prop up the walls', earth was rammed around them. This also helped to prevent the wood from catching fire.

The platform-style houses existed mainly in the Yangtse River basin and southern China. Some ethnic minorities still live in this kind of house, constructed on upright pillars. But it is a-mazing that the primitive people used stone tools to make the beams and purlins and even chiseled out mortises and tenons to secure the joints of the beams. Evidence of this was found in the Hemudu Ruins in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, which were 7,000 years old. For centuries, the "nest residence" prevailed over the "den residence" and became the dominant trend of ancient Chinese architecture. The use of timber framework and the invention of mortises and tenons formed the prototype of classical buildings in ancient China.

During the slave society of the Xia and Shang dynasties (21st-llth century BC), houses varied according to the caste of the inhabitants. Most slaves still lived in pit-style houses. The slave owners lived in much better, on-the-ground houses with rammed earth walls. Their houses had one or more rooms, and the earth floors were hard and smooth after being heated by fire. Some slave owners not only demanded human sacrifices for burials but also buried the slaves as sacrifices below their houses. Unearthed so far, the grandest structure of the slave period is a palace built in the early Shang Dynasty at Erlitou, Yanshi County, Henan Province. The buildings stood on a 10, 000-square-metre terrace of rammed earth. In the middle was an eight-bay • 34 • wide, three-bay deep palatial hall with a hipped roof and double eaves. The main gate was on the southern side of the terrace encircled by galleries.

The Western Zhou Dynasty (1066-771 BC) saw a marked development in architecture in ancient China. Members of the royal family and aristocrats were granted land on which they could set up their feudal states. As a result, building activities increased. Excavation of early Zhou palace sites in Qishan, Shaanxi, indicates that a pattern had evolved with main buildings, porches, the front and back courtyards all on a single axis. Roofing material also improved with the advent of earth tiles, which were used to cover the ridge and gutters. People plastered the rammed walls and floors with a mixture of soil, lime and sand, which gives a hard and smooth surface. They also learned to make the north walls of their houses thicker than the rest to resist the strong and cold winds. But a significant architectural, development of this period was the invention of corbel brackets, called dougong in Chinese, which are inserted on column heads to support the projecting eaves. These later became a unique feature of classical Chinese architecture.

In the next few hundred years the economy and commerce thrived. The construction of elevated terraces became popular as the rulers of each feudal state used "lofty terraces and magnificent palaces" to flaunt their wealth and power. This craze for architectural grandeur culminated during the reign of Emperor Qin-shihuang, the first emperor of ancient China who unified the country in 221 BC.

The Qin ruler, who was also associated with the building of the Great Wall, and the massive terracotta army in Xi'an. It was so gigantic and extravagant that when the peasant rebels burned ft'i the fire ragged for three weeks. The erecting imperial palaces on elevated terraces continued in the Qing Dynasty (1644 — 1911AD), as seen in the Forbidden City.

Architects of the Han Dynasty (206 BC — 220 AD) demonstrated very sophisticated techniques. Corbel brackets were widely used. Meanwhile multi-storied buildings appeared and many different roof styles evolved, such as the gabled roof, hipped roof, and double-eaved roof, all featuring sweeping slopes with upturned eaves and tilted corners. The large overhangs were merely for artistic effect but functional, keeping out the rain and sunlight. The making of bricks as a building material also occurred in the Han Dynasty some 2,000 years ago. One engraved tomb brick found in Sichuan Province illustrates the residence of an aristocrat which consisted of several courtyards separated by galleries.

The Tang Dynasty was a period of great prosperity. Construction of palaces, Buddhist temples and pagodas flourished. The ancient people began to use glazed tiles and carved stones in building. Brick walls were common in Tang structure, but this did not change the unique and prominent feature of the classical Chinese architecture - the timber framework composed of columns, beams, purlins and a multitude of corbel brackets.

There is an old saying:" The walls may topple down but the roof won't collapse," meaning the function of a wall is not to support the weight of the roof but to separate the space. Because of this, windows and doors could be made in the walls freely without causing the building to collapse.

Another advantage of the structure lies in the fact that the buildings are earthquake-resistant. This accounted for the preservation of-many centuried-old structure in quake-proof areas such as the Foguang (Buddha Light) Temple in the Wutai Mountains, built in 857; and the 67.31-metre high wooden pagoda of Yingxian in Shanxi. Built in 1056, it is the oldest surviving timber pagoda in China and the tallest timber building in the world. The thriving economy of the Tang Dynasty also led to a building rivalry among aristocrats and wealthy officials. The imperial court finally had to stipulate standards of residential construction according to social status. For instance, it ruled that officials under the rank of duke were not entitled to houses with double-arched ceilings; officials below the third class (ancient officials) were divided roughly into nine classes) were confined to five-bay houses; the common people could only build three-bay houses. Private households were not allowed to construct towers overlooking other people's residences. But the Tang emperors themselves indulged in building a gigantic and magnificent capital, and Chang'an (now Xi'an) was constructed according to an ambitious layout that was copied in varying degress by late dynasties, even spreading its influence to the ancient Japanese capitals of Kyoto and Nara.

Architectural art reached an advanced level in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) when more and more elegant flexible designs were created, featuring polygonal, multi-eaved roofs, intricate ceiling structures, finely carved doors, windows, columns and brackets. Lattices, on windows and doors also became popular in the period. These are more than ornamental for they facilitate the mounting of paper to admit light. Glass was not introduced to China until very late.

The building techniques of stone and brick structures grew very sophisticated in the Song period, as is manifested by the appearance of a number of vaulted beamless structures built entirely of bricks and stones. The most well-known beamless hall is Wuliangdian in Nanjing's Linggu Temple, built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

In the Ming and Qing dynasties timber shortages gave birth to jointing and paneling techniques, by which huge columns and beams could be made out of small fragments of wood. Meanwhile, beams and columns were connected directly, thus simplifying the superstructure and relegating brackets to ornamental adjuncts on the eaves. However, the simple timber structure did not prevent the architects of the time from making their buildings opulent. In fact, the Ming and Qing palaces represented the culmination of architectural extravagance, mainly through the extensive use of yellow glazed tiles, purple-red walls, while marble balustrades, ornate wood, stone and metal carvings, gilding, lacquering, painting and inlaying.

The Forbidden City in Beijing is noted for its magnificent buildings and dignified layout. First built in the early 15th century, the enclosed city occupied an area of 720,000 square metres and has 9,999 rooms (nine was deemed an auspicious number). The main halls, built on a seven-metre high podium finished in white marble, sit on a single axis.

In the Ming and Qing periods, the art of garden making flourished. Not only the emperors but the rich and powerful, too, lavished money on building private gardens and resorts. The best of them include the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan (the Old Summer Palace) in northwest Beijing, and numerous resorts in Chengde, Hebei Province. These featured harmonious landscaped, and many exquisite pagodas, pavilions, halls and bridges.

Private gardens built by the wealthy were compact and delicate, particularly those in the southern cities of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi and Yangzhou. These offer as many views as possible within a limited space. There the tourist can see grotesque rockery formations, lotus-covered ponds crossed by elegant bridges, graceful miniature pagodas and richly-decorated pavilions.

Nowadays, China's classical architecture is mainly preserved and reproduced for nostalgic reasons to enhance tourism. Its unique designs and decorative techniques are valuable and can be used in modern architecture.