Layout of ancient buildings
Ancient architectural art
The characteristics of ancient architectural art in China are various. From the perspective of art appreciation, we should understand the following characteristics.
A clever and scientific framework structure
This is the most important feature of ancient architecture in China. Because the ancient buildings in China are mainly wooden frame structures, that is, wooden columns and beams form the frame of the house, and the weight of the roof and eaves is transferred to the columns through the beam frame, and the wall only plays the role of partition, not the structural part that bears the weight of the house. The old proverb "The wall falls down but the house doesn't fall down" generally points out the most important feature of China architecture as a frame structure. This structure can make the house meet the changing functional requirements of life and production under different climatic conditions. At the same time, because the house wall is not load-bearing, there is great flexibility in the setting of doors and windows. In addition, this frame-type wood structure has formed a unique component unique to high-rise buildings such as palaces and temples in the past, that is, a bunch of "bucket arches" under the eaves. It consists of bucket-shaped wood blocks and bow-shaped cross bars, which are criss-crossed and picked out layer by layer to form a support with a big top and a small bottom. This kind of member not only has the function of supporting the load-bearing beam frame, but also has the function of decoration. Only after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to the simplification of the structure, the beam was directly placed on the column, which made the structural function of the bucket arch almost completely disappear and almost became a pure ornament.
Second, the courtyard-style group layout
From the images of ancient buildings in ancient documents and paintings to the existing ancient buildings, the plane layout of ancient buildings in China has a concise organizational law, that is, every building such as residence, palace, government office and temple is a courtyard surrounded by several single buildings, some cloisters and walls. Generally speaking, most courtyards are connected in series, reaching the backyard through the front yard, which is the product of China's feudal society's thought of "orderly aging, different inside and outside". The main characters in the family, or people who should be isolated from the outside world (such as girls from aristocratic families), often live in courtyards far from the outside door, forming a deep spatial organization of courtyards after courtyards. How deep is the courtyard written by Ouyang Xiu in Song Dynasty? In other words, the ancients once described the residence of a big bureaucrat as "the door is as deep as the sea", which vividly illustrated the important features of the layout of China architecture.
At the same time, this courtyard-style group and layout are generally designed symmetrically along the longitudinal axis (also known as the front and rear axis) and the horizontal axis. The more important buildings are placed on the vertical axis, and the secondary houses are placed on its left and right sides on the horizontal axis. The group layout of the Forbidden City in Beijing and the northern quadrangles is the typical example that best embodies this principle of group layout. This layout is closely related to the patriarchal clan system and the ethical code system in China feudal society. According to the feudal patriarchal clan system and hierarchical concept, it is most convenient to make a clear distinction between generations, generations, men and women, masters and servants in housing.
Compared with European architecture, the courtyard group layout in China has its unique artistic charm. Generally speaking, European architecture is more obvious. The ancient buildings in China, like a long scroll of Chinese painting, must be displayed one by one, and it is impossible to read them all at once. When you walk into the ancient buildings in China, you can only walk from one courtyard to another, and you must walk to see them. The Forbidden City in Beijing is the most prominent example. Every time people go in from Tiananmen Square, they will enter another courtyard. Walking from one end of the yard to the other, the scenery is changing step by step, giving people a deep feeling. The artistic image of the Forbidden City is deeply left in people's minds.
Third, colorful artistic images.
As mentioned above, architecture is not only a technical science, but also an art. After long-term efforts, ancient architecture in China absorbed the characteristics of other traditional arts in China, especially the plastic arts such as painting, sculpture and arts and crafts, and created colorful artistic images and formed many characteristics in this respect. Among them, the following three aspects are more prominent.
1, decorating the roof
Ancient craftsmen in China discovered the possibility of using roofs to achieve artistic effects very early. In the Book of Songs, there is a phrase "wings of a temple", which shows that the poet praised the wings of the ancestral temple in his poems three thousand years ago. In the Han Dynasty, there were five basic roof forms in the later generations-the Temple Ding Dian with four slopes, the pyramid-shaped roof with four, six and eight slopes or circles, the hard roof with two gables on two slopes flush with the roof, the overhanging roof with two slopes protruding from the gables, and the sloping roof with hanging mountains on the upper part and sloping around the lower part. Ancient craftsmen in China made full use of the characteristics of wood structure, created the roof's lifting and folding, the roof's tilting and protruding, and formed the soft and graceful curves of the cornices of birds' wings and various parts of the roof. At the same time, the ridge end of the roof is properly carved and the eaves tiles are decorated. After the Song Dynasty, glazed tiles were widely used to add color and luster to the roof. In addition, many other roof styles have appeared one after another, and various complex shapes with artistic effects have been combined from these roofs, which has made China ancient buildings gain rich experience in creating architectural artistic images by using roof forms and become one of the important features of ancient buildings in China.
2, the application of film building
The use of foil buildings is a common artistic treatment method for high-rise buildings such as palaces and temples in ancient China. Its function is to set off the main building. The earliest building with artistic characteristics was the "Que" built in front of the main entrance of the palace during the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Han Dynasty, besides palaces and tombs, temples and large and medium-sized tombs were also used. The existing Gaoyi Tomb in Ya 'an, Sichuan, is a typical work of the Han Dynasty, with exquisite shapes and carvings. Various forms of defects can often be seen in sculptures and murals after the Han Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Que evolved into the meridian gate of the Forbidden City. Other common art setting-off buildings include huabiao, archway, zhaobi and stone lion in front of the palace.
3, the use of color
Ancient craftsmen in China were the boldest and the best at using colors in architectural decoration. This feature is closely related to the wood structure system of buildings in China. Because wood can't be used for a long time, China architecture has long adopted the method of painting and tung oil on wood, protecting wood and strengthening wood components through tenon-mortise combination, and at the same time increasing aesthetics, so as to achieve a combination of practicality, firmness and aesthetics. Later, the columns and beams were decorated in red, or colored paintings were painted on the beams and squares of the bucket arch. After long-term practice, China architecture has accumulated rich experience in color application. For example, in palaces and official buildings in the north, they are very good at using the contrast and harmony of bright colors. The main part of the house, that is, the part that can often get the sun, is generally warm, especially vermilion; The shadow under the eaves is a cool color with blue and green. This emphasizes the warmth of the sun and the gloom of the shadow, forming a pleasant contrast. Scarlet doors and windows and blue-green eaves are often decorated with gold wires and dots, and there are also a few red dots between blue and green, which makes the colorful painting patterns on the building more vivid and enhances the decorative effect. Some important memorial buildings, such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, have yellow, green or blue glazed tiles lined with one or even several layers of white marble abutments and railings. Under the crisp autumn sky in North China Plain and cloudless blue sky in Wan Li, its color effect is extremely moving. Of course, the formation of this color style is also related to the natural environment in the north to a great extent. Because on the flat and vast North China Plain, the scenery in winter is very monotonous and harsh. In such a natural environment, this bright color brings vitality and interest to the building. By the same token, in the south with beautiful mountains and rivers and evergreen seasons, the color of buildings is limited by the architectural hierarchy in feudal society on the one hand, and it is also because the south is evergreen and flowers bloom in all seasons. In order to coordinate the color of the building with the natural environment in the south, the color it uses is more elegant, and a beautiful and elegant style is composed of white walls, gray tiles and chestnut, black and dark green beams and columns. This color gives people a cool feeling in the hot summer in the south, unlike strong colors, which are easy to stimulate people. From here, we can also know that the color application of ancient buildings in China, in addition to the two main styles mentioned above, has some differences with different nationalities and regions. There are many types of ancient buildings in China, including palaces, temples, pagodas, houses and garden buildings. Among them, the achievements of palaces and garden buildings are the most prominent. Therefore, here we focus on the palace architecture and garden art:
I. Palace
Our country has experienced a long feudal society. In order to satisfy their luxurious life and maintain the majesty of their rule, emperors of past dynasties often built various palaces and palaces. The Epang Palace built after Qin Shihuang unified China is amazing in scale. Weiyang Palace, built in the early Western Han Dynasty, has a circumference of 8,900 meters. Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu, was very angry when he saw the luxury of this palace building. Xiao He, who is in charge of the project planning, said: "It is difficult for the emperor to be strong when he is at home in the four seas." This shows that the ruling class has realized that large palace buildings can also be used as a tool to consolidate political power. This view of Xiao He made the later emperors pay more attention to the capital and palace buildings. Therefore, after the Qin and Han Dynasties, palace architecture has always occupied an important position in China's ancient architecture. Unfortunately, many palace buildings have become relics. The largest, most complete and exquisite palace building preserved now is the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The whole Forbidden City is magnificent. Take the Forbidden City, the core of the palace, as an example. It is 760 meters long from east to west and 960 meters long from north to south, covering an area of more than 720,000 square meters. According to the general custom of palace architecture, the Forbidden City can also be divided into two parts: the outer court where the emperor handles government affairs and the inner court where the emperor lives. The Gan Qing Gate of the Forbidden City is the dividing line between the outer court and the inner court. The outer court is mainly composed of "three halls"-Taihe Hall, Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall, with Taihe Gate in front and two groups of palaces, Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall, on both sides. The Palace Museum is dominated by the "last three palaces"-Gan Qing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace. It is flanked by the East Sixth Palace and the West Sixth Palace for concubines to live in, and is usually called "Three palaces and Six courtyards". This general layout of the Forbidden City highlights the traditional feudal etiquette system of "sleeping before". The design idea of the whole Forbidden City is a prominent embodiment of feudal imperial power and strict feudal hierarchy. For example, the main buildings are strictly symmetrically arranged on the central axis, with special emphasis on the "three main halls", among which the Hall of Supreme Harmony (commonly known as the Golden Hall) stands out. Therefore, in the overall layout, the "Three Great Halls" not only occupy the most important space of the Forbidden City, but also the square in front of it covers an area of 2.5 hectares, effectively setting off the Hall of Supreme Harmony as the brain of the whole Miyagi. In addition, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is located on the pedestal of the White Marble Hall, which is divided into three floors and 8 meters high. Each floor is surrounded by railings carved with white marble, and there are three layers of stone carving "Imperial Road". It makes the Hall of Supreme Harmony more majestic, and looks like the fairy que in Gong Qiong from a distance, with extraordinary weather. As for the imperial palace and other parts, the layout is relatively compact because it belongs to the foreign dynasty.
In addition, it should be pointed out that the Forbidden City is the best example that can best reflect that architecture is a continuous art of time and space. People walked into the Forbidden City step by step from Tiananmen Square. When passing through the end gate and the meridian gate, there were duplicate courts on both sides, followed by the Taihe Gate and the "Three Great Halls". This series of buildings, especially the three halls, seems to be an important paragraph in a movement. Then "The Last Three Palaces". They are the constant repetition of similar buildings, which can be said to be another piece of music, or a "variation" of the music theme. And each palace itself is a repetition of many components. As for the lower corridors, pavilions, buildings, doors and other buildings on the east and west sides, it is like accompaniment to the main theme. In this way, the feeling of people walking in the Forbidden City is the sum of their impressions of a series of continuous spatial sequences in the course of time, which is very similar to the artistic effect of music. Therefore, the whole Forbidden City is like a huge and cohesive movement.
Of course, the whole Forbidden City building serves to reflect the political power of the emperor, which inevitably produces serious and rigid shortcomings. However, judging from the overall architectural art of the Forbidden City complex, it embodies the special style and outstanding achievements of China's ancient architectural art, and is one of the world's outstanding buildings. This masterpiece has been rebuilt and rebuilt for more than 500 years since it was founded in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty, and the manpower and material resources used are immeasurable. It can really be said that "the power of the poor world serves one person." Therefore, this magnificent Forbidden City is the crystallization of the wisdom and sweat of the ancient working people in China.
There are many famous classical gardens in China, most of which are relics of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The essence of China classical gardens is concentrated in the south of the Yangtze River. Predecessors once commented that "Jiangnan gardens are the best in the world, and Suzhou gardens are the first in Jiangnan". China architectural circles also believe that "the essence of China classical gardens is extracted from the south of the Yangtze River, with Suzhou as the focus. The number of gardens and villas, large and small, and their artistic attainments are rare anywhere in the world today. " This is because Suzhou has been an important city in southern China since the Spring and Autumn Period. It has the advantages of rich material, developed culture and beautiful scenery. From the Jin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, aristocratic bureaucrats in previous dynasties constantly built gardens in Suzhou for their appreciation. Therefore, the existing Suzhou classical gardens are considerable. There are fifteen classical gardens discussed in Liu Dunzhen's Suzhou Classical Gardens (Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering Garden, Lion Forest, Canglang Pavilion, Master of Nets Garden, Yiyuan Garden, Huanxiu Mountain Villa, Cuiyong Mountain Villa, Crane Garden, Changyuan Garden, Tiger Garden, Remnant Garden and Wangxima Lane No.1 Hospital), among which the most famous ones are Humble Administrator's Garden and Lingering Garden. In addition, some famous classical gardens have been preserved in other parts of the south of the Yangtze River and northern areas. The Summer Palace and Beihai in Beijing and the Summer Resort in Chengde, Hebei Province are the most famous classical gardens in Beijing. No matter the classical gardens in the south or the north, the imperial palaces of feudal emperors, or the private gardens of bureaucrats, landlords and wealthy businessmen, although different regions and garden owners have different political and economic positions and show their own characteristics in the scale and style of gardens, they are all built to meet the pleasure life of the feudal ruling class, and there are many similarities in garden layout and artistic techniques. These similarities constitute China's poetic and picturesque classical garden art. From the perspective of our appreciation of classical garden art, the following gardening techniques should be pointed out in particular.
First of all, the landscape of China's classical gardens mainly imitates nature, that is, the natural scenery is created by artificial power, and the artistic realm of "although some people do it, it is natural" is achieved. Therefore, in addition to a large number of buildings, the garden also needs to cut mountains, plant flowers and trees, imitate the natural landscape by hand, or take ancient landscape paintings as the blueprint to participate in the emotional appeal of poetry and form many picturesque scenes. Therefore, the classical gardens in China are a combination of architecture, mountain ponds, gardening, painting, sculpture and even poetry. This feature of China classical gardens is mainly determined by the nature of China gardens. Because whether feudal emperors or bureaucratic landlords, they not only covet the rich material enjoyment of the city, but also want to seek "the joy of mountains and rivers" without bearing the pain of fatigue. Therefore, their gardening, in addition to meeting the needs of living and enjoying, is more important to pursue beautiful mountain scenery, so as to achieve the purpose of living in the city and still enjoying the fun of mountains and forests.
Secondly, due to the long-term feudal social and historical conditions, most of the classical gardens in China are closed, that is, there are walls around the gardens and the scenery is hidden in the gardens. Moreover, except for a few royal palaces, the area of gardens is generally relatively small. To reproduce the beauty of natural landscape in a small scale, the most important and difficult thing is to break through the limitations of space and let the limited space show infinitely rich landscapes. In this respect, China classical gardens have high artistic achievements and become the essence of China classical gardens.
Generally speaking, the most important way for China classical gardens to break through the space limitation and create rich landscapes is to adopt tortuous and free layout, divide scenic spots and spaces, and "borrow scenery".
The so-called tortuous and free layout is relative to the geometric pattern layout commonly used in gardens in some countries in continental Europe. This tortuous and free layout is particularly prominent in small private gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. What they emphasize is deep twists and turns, and the so-called "Jing Gui Shen, no bend, no depth" is this technique. For example, at the entrance of most gardens in Suzhou, rockeries, small courtyards and leaky windows are often used as barriers to properly block the sight of tourists, so that people can only vaguely see the corner of the garden scenery when entering the garden gate, and only after several twists and turns can they see the whole picture of the hills and pavilions in the garden. Suzhou Lingering Garden has a compact layout, a wide variety and wonderful scenery. Leaky windows are used at the entrance of the garden gate to emphasize the profound twists and turns in the garden. As for the scenery in the garden, it is not like the axial view of western gardens, but moves with the hovering plane, changing the scenery in turn. Others opened many beautiful windows and holes in the walls on both sides of the corridor, through which people passed. It is like a landscape frame, reflecting the scenery in the garden into the beautiful windows and holes like landscape painting.
Regarding the method of dividing scenic spots and spaces, the whole garden is divided into several scenic spots by skillfully using landscapes, trees, flowers and buildings. Each scenic spot has its own characteristics, and the key scenic spots that can reflect the main characteristics of the garden are highlighted. For example, the Humble Administrator's Garden, the largest garden in Suzhou, includes three parts: the middle section, the western section and the eastern section, among which the middle section is the essence of the whole garden. At the same time, the area of water accounts for about three-fifths of the whole park, with pavilions and pavilions, and most of them are near the water. The shape is light and lively, and all directions are as empty as possible to capture the natural scenery of Jiangnan water town. The treatment of space in parks lies in the use of mountains, ponds, trees, pavilions and pavilions, and less use of walls. The spaces in the old gardens are interlinked and permeated with each other, forming rich levels. Another example is the Summer Palace in Beijing, which is very big, with a total park area of about 3.4 square kilometers. It can be divided into many scenic spots, some of which form a big garden with small gardens, such as Humor Garden. But among many scenic spots, Kunming Lake and Wanshou Mountain are its essence. It is these key scenic spots that constitute the main features of these gardens. No matter how big or small each garden is, as long as the main attractions are very distinctive, even if other aspects are slightly lacking, it can still leave a deep impression on people.
The artistic technique of "borrowing scenery" is a traditional technique for China classical gardens to break through the space limitation and enrich the landscape. It skillfully introduces the scenery outside the garden, near or far, into the garden and becomes a part of the landscape. This technique has been widely used in the classical gardens of China and achieved great success. For example, Canglang Pavilion, the oldest garden in Suzhou classical gardens, is good at borrowing scenery. Because the garden outside the garden gate is surrounded by clear water, the garden did not build a boundary wall on this side, but used a cloister with a leaking window to skillfully "borrow" the river view into the garden. Another example is the Summer Palace in Beijing. In order to "borrow scenery" from the nearby Yuquan Mountain and the distant Xishan Mountain, besides giving full play to the artistic effect of "the true meaning of the lake and mountain", it has also been carefully designed in other aspects. For example, in the west dike area of the Summer Palace, except for six bridges with different shapes, there is no tall building screen to block the line of sight. The north-south length of Kunming Lake is also suitable for reflecting all the visible Xishan peaks in the park into the lake. At the same time, the peach willows of the two dikes properly covered the fence, and the boundary between the inside and outside of the park disappeared invisibly. The peaks of the Western Hills, the smoke willows of the two dikes, and the tower shadow of Yuquan Mountain all naturally blend into one scene in the garden, which virtually expands the spatial scope of the garden and enriches the scenery. What is presented in front of people is a picture of the poetic landscape of splendid lakes and mountains. The close shot is the Buddha Pavilion of Wanshou Mountain, the middle scene is the two dikes and Yuquan Mountain, and the distant view is the Western Hills. This technique of borrowing scenery from classical gardens in China can be summarized as five methods in the book "Gardening and Metallurgy", namely, "borrowing from afar, borrowing from neighbors, borrowing from outside, borrowing from below and borrowing from time to time". Some of the examples mentioned above mainly belong to borrowing scenery from outside the park, that is, "borrowing scenery from afar" The so-called "borrowing neighbors, borrowing others, borrowing others, borrowing from time to time" mainly means borrowing scenery in the park. The so-called "neighboring borrowing" refers to the scenery not far from the park, which is opposite to each other, sets each other off and echoes from afar. For example, the pavilions, bridges, willows and stones near the "Zhichun Pavilion" in the Summer Palace are harmonious and beautiful. "Borrowing" generally refers to the sky in the garden, such as blue sky and white clouds, or bright moon and stars. But magnificent buildings like looking up at peaks, waterfalls and pines and cypresses can also be called borrowing scenery. If you enter the main entrance of Beijing Beihai Park, you can look up at the unique White Pagoda. "Bend over" refers to watching the reflection of the lake light on the railing and watching the fish swimming in the pond on the porch. "Borrowing time" refers to making good use of scenery changes at different times of the year, such as flowers and plants in spring, shade in summer, red leaves in autumn, snow in winter, sunrise in the morning, sunset in the evening and so on.
For example, in Suzhou Netscape Garden, the important scenic spot "Dianchun Noodles" is based on two sentences in the Peony Poetry of Song Dynasty, "Thank the chemical industry for being lonely, but still leave the spring breeze in the Peony Pavilion", and borrow peony flowers in late spring as scenery.
Thirdly, China classical gardens are particularly good at using various buildings with strong national styles, such as pavilions, terraces, buildings, pavilions, corridors, pavilions, pavilions, boathouses, pavilions and bridges. Combined with natural water, stone, flowers and wood, it forms a garden landscape that embodies various tastes. Taking common pavilions, corridors and bridges as examples, their artistic image and artistic realm are original. Such as pavilions, not only have colorful shapes, but also play a role of "finishing touch" and "attracting attention" in the garden. For example, Hu Xinting in Xiyuan, Suzhou, Dongting in Humble Administrator's Garden and Wulong Pavilion in Beihai Park, Beijing. Another example is the corridor, which is not only a route to guide tourists to visit in the middle of the garden, but also plays a role in dividing space and combining scenery. For example, when people stroll along the promenade of the Summer Palace in Beijing, they can enjoy the beautiful scenery of Kunming Lake. The water gallery of Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden is graceful, and people walk on it, just like walking in Ling Bo; The cloister of Suzhou Yiyuan Garden is separated by a flower wall, and there are all kinds of leaking windows (also called "flower windows" or "flower wall holes") on the wall, which makes the garden bounded and unbounded, seemingly separated and unbounded, with landscapes and endless changes. This kind of leaky window is widely used in Jiangnan classical gardens and is an outstanding creation of ancient architects.