Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in Asia over the years. Over the centuries, the structural principles of Chinese architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being on the decorative details. Since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Ancient Chinese architecture enjoys a long history and great achievements, and created many architectural miracles such as the Great Wall. In the process of its development, superior architectural techniques and artistic design were combined to make unique Chinese architecture be one of the three greatest architectural systems.
An ancient civilized nation and a great country on the East Asian continent, China possesses a vast territory covering 9.6 million sq. km. and a population accounting for over one-fifth of the world's total, 56nationalities and a recorded history of 3,OOO years, during which it has created a unique, outstanding traditional Chinese Culture. China's architectural art is a particularly beautiful branch in the tree of Chinese civilization.
Generally speaking, there were about seven main independent architectural systems in the ancient world, some of which had long been interrupted, or had not been widely circulated. Therefore their achievements and influence were relatively limited, such as ancient Egyptian, West Asian, Indian and American structures. Only Chinese, European and Islamic structures are considered to be the world's three major architectural systems. The Chinese and European structures continued over the longest period of time and spread over the widest area and therefore they gained more brilliant achievements.
Fengshui, a special Chinese tradition in architecture, usually links the whole process from site selection, designing, construction and interior and exterior decorating in ancient times. Feng means wind and shui is water.
Fengshui combines the trinity of the Heaven, the Earth and humans, and seeks harmony between selected site, orienting, natural doctrine and human fate. It repulses human destruction of nature and stresses cohabitation with the environment, which is regarded as perfect and occult.
In China, a fengshui practitioner, or a diviner, usually applies theories as Yingyang, Sixiang, Wuxing and Bagua, based on the principle of the Heaven and the Earth in harmony, to select an optimum place for burial site or accommodation.
Qi, deemed as the basic element of the physical world in ancient Chinese philosophy, is the essence of fengshui. The art of fengshui advocates there is a certain field, sort of like magnetic field, termed as qi field. An auspicious qi field is what fengshui practitioners seek while an evil one is what they strive to avoid. There are five elements - long (dragon), xue (cave), sha (sand), shui (water) and xiang (orientation). They are used to avoid evil qi and gain auspicious qi. In order to keep qi of the Heaven and the Earth in harmony in the construction of a new structure, earth vein should not be spoiled. The best orientation is a building with its face facing a river or a lake in the south and back against a hill in the north.
Most ancient cities in China were built under guidance of fengshui, which was the main principle used to select locations based on their environmental surroundings. Fengshui helps to plan placement of structures of significance and confirm the location of city central axis. Usually the central axis of a city, or certain other architectural complex, ought to face certain peak of mountains nearby to make the city magnificent and solemn. For example, the Imperial Palace in Beijing was placed on the very center of the city, and its central axis points at Jingshan Mountain which was called Guard Mountain of the Palace.
Fengshui practitioners also emphasize pagodas and their site location since pagodas are believed capable of protecting residents around them.
Although there are still many people who believe it, many people now doubt this theory.
The Great Wall-Monument to the Chinese Nation
The human race is rich in creative power but has never been content with its lot, with material limitation, but instead has tried hard to transcend it spiritually. A batch of ancient artistic creations such as oral literature, dances, music, drawing and sculptures, were admirable evidence of this in the distant past. Architectural art, considered to be the earliest art of mankind, naturally also found expression. China's Great Wall is a famous example that transcends ideology. Far back to the Western Zhou Dynasty in the 9th century BC, people began to build beacon towers along the borderline. When the enemy came, people used fires on the towers to provide early warning. During the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, mutually defensive beacon towers were also built along the national boundaries between various countries. In the middle of the 7th century BC, in order to link up various isolated beacon towers bordering the state of Qin, Chu State was the first to set up city walls, becoming the earliest part of the Great Wall. Later, similar walls were built one after another by various states. After Qinshihuang unified China, he demolished the walls between the various states, leaving behind only those of Yan, Zhao and Qin and linked them together, so as to resist the attack by northern nomadic people. This section of the Great Wall goes west from Lintao and east to Liaodong.
The Han Dynasty extended the Great Wall toward the west and setup the Yumenguan Pass and the Yangguan Pass in Gansu's Dunhuang. Various post-Han dynasties all maintained the Great Wall, with the Ming Dynasty seeing the largest scale of maintenance work, by completing the greatest human project stretching more than 11,3OO li (O.5 km =one li) across north China east to Liaodong and west to Gansu's Jiayuguan Pass. The Great Wall has inner and outer layers, and has more than 2Olayers in some sections. When all the city walls are put together, the Great Wall built during the 2,OOO years throughout all dynasties totals 1OO,OOO li, long enough to circle the globe. Historically, the Great Wall had played a great role, guarding against the inroads of the northern nomadic people and guaranteeing the tranquillity of the central plain, ensuring the unimpeded traffic of the Silk Road for economic and cultural exchanges between Chinese and Western countries, and promoting peace, trade and exchanges among various nationalities at frontier points.
Today, the practical functions of the Great Wall as defense work no longer exist, but its beauty has long remained up to this date, becoming the object of beauty for sightseeing.
The city walls of the Great Wall extends mostly along the undulating mountain ridges, with close interdependence of precipitous topography-mountains and walls in the Outer side of the mountain ridges often made use of to reinforce the structure. The mystical picture resulting from the combination of points, lines and areas formed by the majestic passes, rotating city walls, strong towers, turrets, enemy fortresses and solitary and unique beacon towers have all become part of the rhythm of beauty. Nature, which originally is completely unrestrained and lacking in feeling, once it become part of people's judgment, becomes a thing closely related with their feelings. Esthetic critics say that the Great Wall "looks like a momentous running hand written in one stroke on the vast land of north China with a huge mystical brush". The enemy tower represents the modulation of the running hand, and the impregnable pass the turning-point of the running hand, forming a complete artistic work. The beauty of the Great Wall comes from its grandeur, a kind of noble beauty characterized by magnificence, firmness, grandeur and boldness. It is an expression of the pioneering spirit of the Chinese who pursue peace and dare to make progress, conveying deep national sentiment.
Therefore, the Great Wall is not only beautiful, but is also a symbol of the character of the Chinese nation. It is clear that the nature of architectural art not only demonstrates the form of a certain beauty, it also demands playing up a certain kind of strong feeling, temperament and interest, countenance and appeal and finally exhibiting a tendency related to a certain thought and concept, such as the outlook of nature, ethics and religion as well as aesthetic interest, so as to influence and stir people's hearts. If stressing esthetic beauty that only pleases the eye is shallow delight, then stressing the artistic beauty that gladdens the heart is all the more a pursuit of artistic conception, and richer and deeper heart-stirring sincerity. Therefore, Auguste Rodin said, "our France as a whole is contained in Our large church, just as the whole of Greece is contained in the Batenong Temple." Contemporary Western artistic historian Jian Sen also said, "When we recall past great civilizations, we have a habit of using visible and commemorative buildings as a unique symbol of each civilization." Victor Hugo defined a building as a monument to human ideology: "Like all rules of religion, people's thoughts have their own monument. No important human thought is not inscribed on rocks by the architectural art." He also said that architecture is an historical record of rock." Then we can say the Great Wall is the monument to the Chinese nation.
Based on the broad and profound Chinese Culture, China's architecture has gained unique and great achievements, giving a profound expression to a culture which is the pride of the Chinese people.
|
