Courtyard layout of ancient big families
Siheyuan is generally in the shape of a mouth, which is mainly surrounded by the main room, the east and west wing rooms, the inverted seat room, the wing room and the back room. There is also a decent courtyard in the big quadrangle, with a stone screen wall, a veranda and a hanging door, facing north and facing south.
The first room is the highest-ranking room in the quadrangle, which is larger than other houses in height, depth and area. The number of rooms is generally odd, three, five and seven. Ancestor tablets are enshrined in the middle. According to the custom of seniority and respect for the left, the owner also lives in the first room, and the oldest people live in the east of the first room, such as the old man and the old lady in the official family, and the old man and his wife live in the west. This is why the first wife is called the first room, and then both sides are occupied by concubines, so concubines are also called side rooms.
The wing is also divided into east wing and west wing. The older generation lives in the east and the second son lives in the west. The specifications of the wing are much smaller than those of the main room.
According to the coat of the quadrangle, there are two or four rooms, and both the main room and the wing room can have an ear room. Judging from the affiliation, the wing room is not high, and it is generally lived by grandchildren.
The back room, usually inhabited by harem or maid, is relatively hidden compared with the inverted room.
Inverted house, inverted house is the southernmost house of quadrangle. Because the main house faces south, it is called inverted house, and its status is also the lowest. Usually the servants live near the toilet.
It's just a small courtyard with only one entrance. If the house is big, such as a big yard with four entrances and five exits, and the family population is small, young ladies and gentlemen can have their own yard.
The Living Mode of Ancient Nobles
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the residential gate of the scholar-officials was divided into three rooms, and the middle door was the office space; Around is the school, which is the place for family education; Inside the door is the courtyard, and above it is the hall, which is the place where guests and etiquette will be met in daily life. There are compartments on the left and right sides of the hall, and the house behind the hall is for sleeping.
The aristocratic houses in Han Dynasty include not only doors, schools, halls and compartments, but also garages, stables, kitchens, warehouses and servant rooms. Most of the buildings are wood structures and dry columns, with various forms of windows such as suspended roofs, squares, circles and rectangles, as well as various windowsills. Three-in-one courtyards and quadrangles composed of walls appeared.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the residential courtyards of northern nobles were mostly symmetrical, and the gates were mostly in the form of temples. Inside the fence, there is a courtyard surrounded by corridors. In a house, there are several corridors and halls for different purposes.
During the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, the layout of aristocratic houses was more free and lively, and the asymmetric layout of courtyards appeared. The gate was replaced by the Aconitum Gate, and the straight-window cloister was often used to form a courtyard.
In the Song Dynasty, urban houses were mostly four in one, with corridors instead of cloisters, and the main entrance was separated by a wall, which increased the living area and was very practical.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, houses can be roughly divided into regular and free types. As the mainstream of traditional residential style, the regular pattern is generally three-way courtyard or quadrangle. The Qing government also made strict regulations on the format, scale and grade of houses.
There is a front room and a back room, which are strict inside and outside and orderly, which promotes the transformation of formal houses into closed inner courtyards. All buildings have a central axis with clear symmetry, which reflects the concept of family life in feudal society.