Original title: The Hierarchy of Ancient Chinese Architecture
The hierarchy of architecture is an important unique point that distinguishes ancient Chinese architecture from the national architecture of other countries.
In ancient China, the architectural hierarchy was stipulated according to the social status of people, and the style and scale of buildings, the buildings of emperors, emperors, princes and nobles, the buildings of imperial and local officials, the buildings of ordinary people, etc., all had strict hierarchical distinctions.
The provisions on the architectural type system in the ancient ceremonial system are very specific, including the roof style, the number of wide rooms, the color of decoration, the form of color painting, etc. there are detailed regulations.
In the hierarchy of buildings and even in the code of the imperial court, violators are not only illegal, but also illegal, and those who are serious can incur the disaster of killing.
The main manifestations of the building hierarchy are in the following aspects:
1. Roof style
The highest level is: the temple, only the imperial building can be used, followed by the mountain, again the hanging mountain, again the hard mountain, the other styles are not divided according to the grade.
The roof of the temple and the top of the hill are divided into heavy eaves (two-storey eaves) and single eaves and two eaves), and the heavy eaves level is higher than that of single eaves, so the highest level is the roof of the heavy eaves.
For example, the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City in Beijing is the top of the heavy eaves, because it is the main hall of the imperial palace, the most important building. Tiananmen is just a heavy eaves, because it is only the front door of the imperial palace.
Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City, Beijing
Tiananmen
2. Number of rooms
Between the two pillars is called an open space. The highest grade was nine, and later developed to eleven, such as Beijing Gu
Gong Taihe Hall, Qianqing Palace, but theoretically still the nine bays are the highest, only the emperor's building can use the nine bays. The second is the seven rooms, and the imperial relatives and nobles and the court officials who have been knighted can use the seven rooms. Again, there are five rooms, which can be used by general officials of the imperial court and local government officials. Ordinary people can only use the smallest three rooms.
Nine Bay Room (Qianqing Palace, Forbidden City, Beijing)
Wukai room (Ningyuan Confucian Temple Dacheng Hall)
Three Bay Room (Sichuan Zigong Xiqin Guild Hall)
The numerical hierarchy on the building also has a special meaning, that is, the "magic number" in the five elements of yin and yang in ancient China. In the theory of the five elements of yin and yang, the odd number (singular number) is yang, and the even number (even number) is yin. The highest number in the yang number is nine, so the number of fire used in the building is the highest level, such as the nine rooms of the open room, the nine steps of the steps, and the nine steps of the bucket arch
Stepping on, door nails nine way, roof ridge walking beast nine statues and so on.
The other five is also a special auspicious number in the magic number, and the combination of nine and five is the highest and most auspicious number. In the I Ching, it is said that "nine five, the flying dragon is in the sky", so the nine five became the emperor's special number, called "the nine five". The Tiananmen Tower is nine bays wide and five bays deep, and many buildings in the Forbidden City are like this.
Three. Architectural colors
The highest grade of color in the building is yellow, followed by red, green again, and blue again. Yellow is the emperor's special color, not only for architecture, but also for clothing and other aspects. Yellow robe plus body. He became emperor; the court ministers made meritorious deeds, and the highest reward they received was to wear a yellow coat.
The use of yellow glazed tiles on the roof is only used by royal buildings, and the basic color of all court buildings in Beijing is red wall yellow tiles. In other places outside the capital, there are only royal mausoleums and royal temples (built during the emperor's period
The Confucius Temple or The Temple of Literature can use yellow glazed tiles. Because the Confucianism founded by Confucius was pushed as national orthodoxy, Confucius was revered as the "Most Holy Ancestor", and the ceremonial system stipulated that the Confucius Temple Temple of Literature that sacrificed Confucius enjoyed the hierarchy of royal architecture, so the Confucius Temple Temples throughout the country could use red walls and yellow tiles.
Four. Painted style
Colored painting is a colorful pattern on wooden components such as beams and bucket arches in ancient Chinese architecture, which not only plays a decorative role, but also protects wooden components.
According to the hierarchy, color painting is divided into three types of seal painting, spinner color painting and Su-style color painting.
Hexi Painted Painting (Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City, Beijing)
Hexi painted paintings are of the highest rank and can only be used by the emperor's buildings. It is characterized by a double-braceed hoop head with a pattern of dragon lords inside.
Spinner Painting (Beiding Niangniang Temple, Beijing)
The inferior one is the spinner painting, which is characterized by a single bracketed hoop head, and the pattern inside is dominated by a rotating chrysanthemum, so it is called a ° spin" Large buildings other than those of the highest rank can be painted with spindles, such as minor buildings in the imperial palace, large temples, etc.
Su-style painting (Beijing Summer Palace Gallery)
The lowest level is Su-style painting, which is characterized by a central picture framed with various artistic borders, which is called "baggage". Inside the bag is a complete picture, or landscape scenery, or character stories, or flowers, birds, insects and fish, etc., in short, a painting, not a formatted pattern, it is generally used in the garden pavilions and general residences and other buildings.
Although Su-style paintings are of the lowest grade, they are very artistic and have appreciation value. Especially in the garden, while visiting the garden, you can enjoy the pictures in the pavilion, which is pleasing to the eye. For example, the promenade of the Summer Palace in Beijing is decorated with Su-style paintings, and each beam is a different baggage, which is dazzling and beautiful.
Five. other
The hierarchy of the building is also expressed in other aspects, such as the location relationship of the building, the number of floors of the arch, the number of layers and styles of the foundation, the number of immortals and beasts on the roof ridge, etc., all of which represent the hierarchical identity of the building.
Some of the content refers to "Ancient Chinese Architecture"