What is Huizhou style? Where did it come from?
1. The characteristics of Huizhou architecture are mainly reflected in architectural entities such as village houses, ancestral halls, temples, archways and gardens. The most distinctive style is the large number of remaining traditional residential villages. From site selection, design, shape, structure, layout to decoration and beautification, they all reflect Huizhou's mountainous characteristics, Feng Shui wishes and regional beauty trends.
2. Most of the sites of Huizhou villages strictly follow the rules of traditional Chinese Feng Shui. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, with beautiful mountains and rivers, they pursue the ideal living environment and artistic conception of mountains and rivers. They are known as "the countryside in Chinese paintings" . Influenced by the traditional Feng Shui concept of "water as a source of wealth", Huizhou people who relied on commerce paid special attention to the "water mouth" of the village and constructed some unique water mouth gardens. The structure of Huizhou-style houses is mostly in the form of multiple courtyards (the smaller ones are mostly in the triple courtyard style), which reflects the Huizhou people's characteristic of "living together as a group". Generally, they sit north and face south, leaning on mountains and facing water, and pay attention to Feng Shui value. The layout is symmetrically arranged along the central axis, with three rooms in width, with a hall in the middle and wing rooms on both sides. The front of the hall is called a patio, which is well-lit and ventilated. The courtyards are connected to each other, creating a deeply self-sufficient living space for the family. The appearance of the residential houses has a strong sense of integrity and beauty, with high closed walls, angular horse heads, well-proportioned wall lines, black tiles and white walls, and an elegant and generous color. In terms of decoration, the clear brick door covers, stone-carved windows, and wood-carved pillars are integrated with the building, making the house exquisite and poetic, which is a major feature of Hui-style houses. Ancestral halls and archways in Huizhou are also important architectural forms in Huizhou architecture. Every village has a temple, which is generally large in scale and magnificent. The various archways scattered throughout the country are an important part of the cultural landscape of ancient Huizhou.
3. As a traditional architectural school, Huizhou architecture has always maintained its unique artistic style that combines elegance, simplicity and magnificence.
4. The abbreviation for the three folk carving techniques of brick carving, stone carving and wood carving with Huizhou style. The "Three Sculptures" of the Hui Style are most typical in She County, Yi County and Wuyuan County, and are relatively well preserved. It is mainly used for the decoration of residential buildings, ancestral halls, temples, gardens and other buildings, as well as for the engraving of ancient furniture, screen couplets, pen holders, fruit plates and other crafts. The history of "three carvings" originated from the Song Dynasty and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The carvings of the Ming Dynasty were rough and simple, generally only flat carvings and bas-relief carvings. They relied on line modeling and lacked perspective changes, but emphasized symmetry and were full of decorative interest. The carvings of the Qing Dynasty were exquisite and complex, and the composition and layout absorbed the expression techniques of the Xin'an School. They paid attention to artistic beauty, mostly used deep relief and round sculptures, and advocated the hollow effect. Some hollows have as many as ten layers, with pavilions, towers, and trees. Landscapes, figures, animals, flowers, birds, insects and fish are all gathered in the same picture. They are exquisite, well-proportioned, layered and lifelike, showing the superb artistic talent of the carving craftsmen.
5. Brick carving is an architectural decoration formed by exquisite carvings on the fine-grained gray bricks that are abundant in Huizhou. It is widely used in Huizhou style gate towers, door frames, lintels, eaves, roofs, etc. The roof loops and other places make the building look elegant and solemn. It is an important part of the Huizhou architectural art that has emerged since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Brick carvings include flat carvings, relief carvings, and three-dimensional carvings. The themes include feathers and flowers, dragons, tigers, lions, elephants, forest landscapes, dramatic figures, etc., which have a strong folk color. The materials and production of Huizhou brick carvings are extremely exquisite. The Jixian County Museum has a brick sculpture of the Kitchen Temple. On the brick surface, which is only one foot square, is a round sculpture of a Bodhisattva wearing a golden helmet and armor and holding a steel mace. According to research, this exquisite brick sculpture cost With 1,200 craftsmen, it can be called a classic work of Huizhou brick carving art.
6. Stone carvings are widely distributed in urban and rural areas of Huizhou, and there are many categories. They are mainly used for decoration of pillars, door walls, archways, tombs, etc. of temples and houses. They belong to the art of relief and round sculpture and have a high reputation. . The themes of Huizhou stone carvings are limited by the carving materials themselves and are not as complex as wood carvings and brick carvings. They mainly include images of animals and plants, ancient patterns and calligraphy. As for characters, stories and landscapes, they are relatively rare. In terms of carving style, the relief carvings are mainly shallow openwork carvings and flat carvings. The integration trend of round carvings is obvious. The knife skills are refined and simple, and are not as delicate and cumbersome as the wood carvings and brick carvings of the Qing Dynasty.
7. The mountainous areas of Huizhou are rich in wood. The vast majority of buildings are made of brick, wood and stone. In particular, a lot of wood is used, which has become a place where wood carving artists can use their talents. Huizhou wood carving is used in old buildings. The decorations on objects and household appliances are spread all over urban and rural areas, and their wide distribution is one of the few in the country. The elegance of wood carvings can be seen on the screens, window lintels and railings in the courtyard, as well as the beds, tables, chairs, desks and study utensils used in daily life. They can be found in almost every village.
Huizhou wood carvings cover a wide range of themes, including figures, landscapes, flowers, animals, insects and fish, cloud heads, fretwork, eight treasures, ancient Chinese characters and tin couplets, and various auspicious patterns. Huizhou wood carving uses expression techniques such as round carving, relief carving, and openwork carving based on the needs and possibilities of the components of the building object. Early Ming Dynasty. Hui-style wood carving has begun to take shape, with a simple and rough carving style, mainly flat and light relief. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, as the financial resources of Huizhou merchants increased and the awareness of showing off the countryside became stronger, the art of wood carving also gradually transitioned to fine carving, with multi-layer openwork carving replacing flat and shallow carving becoming the mainstream.