Yu Hao - a person who has made outstanding contributions to the ancient wooden architecture of our country

What does Yu Hao do? What period of time are people? Everyone in the wooden tower knows that the outstanding contribution in the wooden tower architecture is his --- Yuhao.

Yu Hao lived at the end of the Five Dynasties and the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty. He was a humble construction craftsman from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, whose birth and death dates were lacking in historical records, but he only knew that he had worked as a material smith (carpenter in charge of design and construction) in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, and had long been engaged in architectural practice. In this long-term practice, he is diligent in thinking and good at learning from others, so he has accumulated rich experience in wood structure construction technology, especially in building multi-storey pagodas and pavilions. Song Ouyang Xiu's "GuitianLu" once praised him as "only a carpenter since the national dynasty".

Pagodas, which entered China with the introduction of Buddhism, are high-rise buildings that symbolize religion. China's long history of pagoda building began after Buddhism was introduced to China at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Ancient working people and craftsmen, whether in the choice of materials or in the selection of design, creatively built various forms of towers. In terms of materials, there are brick, stone, brick, wood and other different structures; in the design, there are square, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal, twelve-shaped and other forms, exquisite and transparent, exquisite and beautiful, showing the exquisite combination of science and art. Yu Hao inherited and carried forward the tower building technology of his predecessors, especially the more creative development of building wooden towers.

Wooden structure architecture is a representative building of ancient China. After a long period of experience accumulation, by the Song Dynasty, the wood structure technology has reached a very high level, and formed a unique architectural style and a complete system in China. However, at that time, this technology was mainly disseminated by the method of master and apprentice, and there was no special book to record and summarize these experiences, so that many technologies could not be exchanged and promoted, or even lost.

To this end, Yu Hao is determined to compile the experience of successive generations of craftsmen and himself into a book. It is said that he slept in bed late every night, and he also put his hands crossed on his chest and put them in the shape of a wooden structure, considering how to summarize. After several years of hard work, he finally wrote three volumes of the Wooden Classics in his later years. The advent of the Wooden Classics not only promoted the exchange and improvement of construction technology at that time, but also had a great impact on the development of later construction technology.

Yu Hao's ability to achieve such a high attainment is inseparable from his spirit of hard work and modest study. At that time, there was a Xiangguo Temple in the capital, which was built by the Tang Dynasty, and the roll eaves of its gate tower were very cleverly built. Every time Yu Hao passed the gatehouse, he had to raise his head, observe it carefully, and study its construction method. In order to clarify the mystery of the cornice, Yu Hao sometimes sat down, or even lay on the ground to observe and study.

Although Yu Hao has achieved excellence in the design and manufacturing technology of wood buildings. But in feudal society, Yu Hao was only a humble builder, and his achievements and writings, like the creations and inventions of other working people, were not valued by the rulers at all. Later, the "Wooden Classic" was lost, and Yu Hao's deeds were not accurately recorded in the history books. Yu Hao's outstanding contribution to China's wooden architecture throughout his life has built a tall monument for himself.

There were many such unknown silent architects in ancient China, and we must learn from their spirit of hard work.