Tiananmen Square is a symbol of China, it is in the very center of Beijing, and it has attracted the attention of the world with its outstanding architectural works. The original name was "Chengtian gate", which has the meaning of inheriting the fortune of heaven and being ordained by heaven. After many years of Tiananmen, some people should wonder who built such a building, right? Its designer's name should not be known to many people, and its designer was only eighteen years old when Tiananmen Was built.
Born in 1399, his father Kuo was highly skilled and was selected by the Ming Dynasty to be the "carpenter" who built the palace. From a young age, Ku Xiang also has a great interest in this industry. When he grew up, he inherited his father only to continue to serve as the "head of carpentry". In the fifteenth year of Yongle (1417), Emperor Zhu Di, who had seized the throne after the Battle of Jingnan, planned to move the capital to Beijing and began to gather the world's able people to design the imperial palace for him, because of The Master's skill, he was appointed by the Emperor as the designer of the palace project, and in this year, PuXiang was only eighteen years old.
At that time, the city tower was similar to now, but the scale was smaller at the beginning, and after the Chengtian Gate was built, the emperor was very happy to see it, and called him "Kuluban". After that, Ku Xiang stayed in the capital for more than forty years, and has been doing things for the royal family, and the official has been the left waiter of the Ministry of Works.
According to the evaluation of Ming Shi and related architectural experts, Ku Xiang's technology can be said to be pure fire, extremely proficient in scale calculation, and after the completion of the building, it is no different from the design drawings he drew. In the design of the imperial palace, the architectural art of Jiangnan is also used, making the palace loft magnificent.
Ku Xiang is the leader of the Xiangshan Gang, which refers to Suzhou Xiangshan, which has produced many skilled craftsmen from a long time ago. The history books also have: Jiangnan carpentry craftsmen are all from the records of Xiangshan. Ku Xiang is revered as the originator of the Xiangshan Gang because of his superb construction, and the masterpieces of the Xiangshan Gang's craftsmen, the Suzhou Garden, and the Ming Dynasty Imperial Mausoleum are both world cultural heritages.
It is recorded that Ku Xiang was able to draw dragons with both hands holding a pen at the same time. It was also painted exactly the same. He is still very humble in terms of construction technology, and when someone comes to ask him about the construction project in his later years, he will also answer people seriously. In his later years, Together with Lu Xiang, he also built the Three Great Halls and the Yuling Tombs in the Ming Tombs, which was the joint burial mausoleum of Zhu Qizhen and the two empresses. Lu Xiang was also a highly skilled craftsman who had repaired the palace.
During the Ming Dynasty, the Chengtianmen Gate was burned because it was struck by lightning, and Ku Xiang designed and rebuilt the Chengtianmen Gate, and the overall style of Tiananmen was fixed. Later, it was burned down during Li Zicheng's uprising, and after the Shunzhi Emperor ascended the throne, he rebuilt one on the original address and renamed it Tiananmen, taking the order of Heaven. The meaning of anbang governing the country.
In the years since, repairs have also been carried out many times, but the basic style is still the style of the original Chengtianmen built by Ku Xiang, but some places have been slightly changed, and the whole has not changed. Most of Ku Xiang's descendants also inherited his skills, and there are now many of his descendants in Yufan Village, where Qu Xiang's tomb is located. People also have great respect for Ku Xiang, and the Xiangshan Gang has gone out of the country, and there are exquisite ancient buildings left by the Xiangshan Gang in the United States and other places.
References: Ming Tongjian, Records of the Xianzong