Archive for category Chinese Architecture
the Pavilion of Prince Teng
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Chinese Architecture on March 3, 2011
The Pavilion of Prince Teng, also called Tengwang Pavilion (Teng Wang Ge in Chinese), is located in Nanchang city, Jiang Xi province. Together with Yellow Crane Tower, Yue Yang Tower, it is regarded as one of the three most famous and historic towers in southern China.
The Pavilion was first built in 653 during the Tang Dynasty (618—907), by Li Yuanying. He was the younger brother of Emperor Taizong and was enfeoffed as Prince Teng in 639. The pavilion was named after him. However Read the rest of this entry »
Chinese Rockery
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Chinese Architecture on February 6, 2011
Rockery, also called Jiashan in Chinese, is a kind of ancient Chinese architectural style. They are often can be found on the roadsides, parks and gardens, etc. Rockeries are usually made of soil, stone and other materials. Most of the them have the height over a meter to 5 or 6 meters.
Its history can date back to the period of Qin Dynasty (221BC ~ 206BC). Due to the influence of landscape poetry and landscape painting, rockeries were very popular during the period of Tang (618～907) and Song (960~1279) Dynasties. The art of rockery design reached its peak in Ming Dynasty (1368~1644).
Rockeries are designed for different purposes, such as dividing and organizing the garden space, adding natural joy of life, etc. Read the rest of this entry »
Yueyang Tower
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Chinese Architecture on September 5, 2010
Yueyang Tower is one of the three most famous and historic towers in southern China. It stands on the western gate of the Yueyang city in Hunan Province, with Dongting Lake in the west and Yangtze River in the north. It has been viewed as the First Tower under Heaven.
The history of Yueyang Tower can date back to the period of Three Kingdoms (220~280). It is said that the tower was originally used for military purpose. Lu Su, the famous military commander of the period of Eastern Han Dynasty (25~220), had used it as an inspection tower to train his soldiers. Thousands of years, it has been a popular tourist destination and there left many articles and poems about the tower in history. The most famous one “Notes on Yueyang Tower” was written by Fan Zhongyan, an outstanding scholar in North Song Dynasty (960~1127). This article makes the tower even more famous.
Yueyang Tower was built in the Qing Dynasty (1636~1911). It not only possesses unique structure with three floors, four pillars, flying eaves but also owns helmet roof. This kind of top structure is unparalleled in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.
There spread a legend about the tower. The legend goes that, an official asked carpenter Li to design a wonderful tower in a month. When Li was worried about it, suddenly, a white-haired old man appeared and gave him some pieces of wood and then disappeared with a blast of wind. With those pieces of wood, Li finally designed a majestic tower model. That was the model for Yueyang Tower.
Chinese Corridor
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Chinese Architecture on August 25, 2010
Chinese Corridor, also called Lang in Chinese, is a traditional Chinese architectural style. It refers to the covered aisle with low railings and long benches. Traditional corridor in China usually consists of Hui Lang (the winding Corridor) and You Lang (the Corridor of connecting pavilions).
The history of Chinese corridor can date back to the period of Western Han Dynasty (202BC~9AD), when it was first mentioned in relevant historical records.
As a beautiful sight in China, corridors are built for multiple purposes. They may provide places for rest, protect the people from the sun and rain, etc. As the part of Chinese architecture, it becomes the important means of partitioning spatial patterns.
The railings and benches of traditional corridors usually come with beautiful geometric patterns. They are often decorated with assorted lights windows, leaking windows, etc.
Based on the sides of corridors, Chinese corridors can be classified into different categories including double sides Corridor, single side Corridor, etc.
Of all the existed corridors, the most charming one is Summer Palace Corridor, which was built during the period of Qing Dynasty (1636~1911) and is regarded as the longest corridor in the world.
Suzhou Gardens
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Chinese Architecture on August 1, 2010
As an old saying goes, gardens to the south of Yangtze River are the best in the World and Suzhou gardens are the best among them. Suzhou gardens play a unique and irreplaceable role in the history of world landscape gardening. In 1997, Suzhou Gardens was listed as World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
The earlist garden in Suzhou，which belonged to the King of Wu, can date back to the period of Spring and Autumn Warring States (770BC~221BC). Suzhou gardens experienced its golden age during the Ming Dynasty (1368~1644) and Qing Dynasty (1636~1911). It is said that during its heyday, there were about 200 gardens in Suzhou city.
Suzhou Gardens are the carrier of Chinese traditional culture and are best known for its cultural features, including unique inscribed boards, excellet couplets, exquisite engraving and poetic Garden halls’names, etc. All these stand as the proof of the creativity and wisdom of ancient Chinese. Handwritings of some ancient Chinese calligraphy celebrities, which are of high literary value, are also well-presevered in these gardens.
Suzhou Gardens fully reflect the profound importance of natural beauty in Chinese culture. The “borrowed scenery”, a technique of garden design that merges the surrounding natural scenery into the garden itself, is often used in in the art of garden construction in Suzhou. Nowadays, we still can enjoy the beauty of some famous ones, such as Zhuozheng Garden (also called Humble Administrator’s Garden), Liu Garden (also called Lingering Garden), etc.
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