Lingnan residences
1 The structural characteristics of Lingnan architecture
Most areas in Lingnan are located in subtropical and coastal areas, with warm winters and hot summers, long sunshine hours in summer, high solar radiation intensity, and a hot climate. The air is humid, the rain is abundant, typhoons are frequent, and natural disasters such as annual typhoons and floods mostly occur in the Lingnan region. Therefore, the internal ground of Lingnan buildings is generally higher than the external ground. Most of the wall bases are made of blue bricks, stones or waterproof materials to prevent floods. The layout of the houses is also relatively dense, and the roof layer is pressed and reinforced with bricks or other materials. To prevent typhoons from invading and causing damage to buildings and casualties, wealthy families use blue brick buildings or thicken the walls to achieve waterproof and windproof effects. Many areas in Lingnan are close to the coast. Pirates visited frequently in ancient times. Therefore, the buildings in these areas must not only provide shelter from wind and rain to satisfy people's living needs, but also have a defensive function against intrusion and theft by outsiders. For example, the watchtowers in Kaiping City, Guangdong Province are buildings with obvious defensive functions. These buildings were built for many traditional and other reasons, but the structure and design of the buildings all reflect their anti-bandit and anti-theft characteristics. There are 1,833 Kaiping watchtowers in existence. The style of each watchtower is different, but they have many similarities, namely, narrow doors and windows, iron doors and iron windows, thick walls, solid materials, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are gun holes around the walls, and people can pass through the gun holes. You can observe and control the surroundings of the watchtowers. In ancient times, watchtowers were generally equipped with defense devices such as firearms and bronze bells.
The Lingnan region is adjacent to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, with convenient maritime transportation, close international business and trade, frequent import and export of goods, and its economy has been relatively developed since ancient times. All of this has created conditions for the introduction of Western architectural culture. Many cities in the Lingnan region, such as Guangzhou, Xiamen and other places, have appeared products that combine Western architecture with Lingnan architecture, namely "foreign-style buildings" and "arcade buildings". These buildings generally have people living upstairs and shops downstairs. They are often built with two rows of "arcades" facing each other, forming a street and a commercial corridor that is hundreds or even thousands of meters long, providing owners with excellent conditions for business and living. The architectural model that created comfortable passages and shopping environments for customers and pedestrians has been extended to the present, spreading to towns and villages, and extending to industry. Our country's modern industrial parks, professional towns and new rural construction and other construction communities are generally similar to this kind of building complex. It is the product of the integration of Western architectural culture and Chinese architectural culture, traditional architectural culture and modern architectural culture, and urban architectural culture and rural architectural culture.
2 Technical Style of Lingnan Architecture
Lingnan buildings generally face north and south, which is conducive to ventilation and lighting in summer and warmth in winter. The plan adopts a strip shape, and multiple houses are combined side by side. There is a verandah, sunshade or eaves in front to provide shade from the sun and rain, and at the same time, it is convenient for users to walk. In order to prevent moisture and rainwater from being immersed, stone column foundations, high column foundations and stone beams are often used. The Lingnan area has a lot of rain. It is located in a complicated location with mountains, water, rivers and streams. In addition, there are many people and little land, and the cultivated land resources are relatively tight. Many buildings are concentrated on hillside and hilly forest areas, high up and down. , built in rows, a hillside forms a natural village. Most of the houses in the village are single-story, with pyramid-shaped roofs to drain rainwater. In terms of building material selection, mud bricks, green tiles or green bricks are generally used. Some wealthy families, in order to prevent theft, use thickened walls, which are even more than 1m thick. They are tamped with sand, mud and ash and are very hard. In mountainous areas, most houses are built on the mountainside in order not to occupy fertile farmland. In addition to strips, the layout of Lingnan buildings also has square and circular layouts. The Hakka Weilong House is a typical circular layout building, most common in Meizhou, Guangdong. This kind of building is composed of multiple enclosures. Each enclosure is composed of many connected single rooms in a semicircular shape, like a half-moon. There is a field and a pond in front of the enclosure. The buildings and the pond form a circular layout. , This fully reflects the enclosure and centripetal culture of Hakka architecture. According to a report by Yangcheng Evening News on April 15, 2009, there are more than 20,000 Hakka dragon houses in Meizhou City alone. Hakka "earth wall" and "small castle" buildings are typical square buildings. The walls of these buildings are more than 1m thick and the roofs are more than 10m high. They have very strong defensive functions. The walls adopt the "three combined soil" technology to build the earth. Build, and then use sand and dust to block the walls to prevent rain. These enclosed buildings have been passed down to this day.
With the advancement of science and technology, many buildings have adopted new technologies and new materials, but there are still many such building groups in the villages in the Lingnan mountainous area. This is the result of the inheritance of Hakka architectural culture to this day. The Lingnan area has many rivers and a long coastline. Many fishermen who make a living by fishing live on boats for a long time and make boats their home. With the development of society, especially after liberation, with the care and organization of the government, they built houses on the coast or river banks and moved to land. These houses were short, shaped like boats, and had curved roofs. People called them " Egg House". To protect against typhoons and flooding, these houses are built with wooden boards and metal plates, one for each family. The internal layout of Lingnan buildings is flexible and diverse, and is determined based on the situation of family members. In addition to the strip layout, there is also a central axis symmetrical courtyard layout. This layout is similar to the courtyard house in the north, with a patio in the middle and several living rooms around it. For a small family, this layout is conducive to ventilation and lighting, communication and care of family members, and is also conducive to preventing interference and theft by outsiders.
3 Lingnan architectural ecological landscape
The Lingnan area has a mild climate and abundant rainfall, which is very beneficial to the planting and growth of various plants. Therefore, every household in Lingnan area is surrounded by ecological landscapes formed by gardens, ponds, rivers, fields, etc. Many people believe in Feng Shui and believe that a good house should be backed by a mountain, facing water, and located on a gentle slope (the land of Xuanwu on the back, Suzaku in front, Green Dragon on the left, and White Tiger on the right). Therefore, there is often a pond in front of the house, and trees and bamboos are planted beside the pond. The two merge into one, forming a natural landscape that is inseparable from the house. The pond is not only part of the Feng Shui combination, but also can be used for farmland irrigation, village fire protection, and climate regulation, which has brought vitality to the village. The cool breeze blowing from the south in summer passes through the water, passes through the bamboo forest, and blows into the house, making the air inside the house fresh and cool. Villages in the south rarely build walls. Instead, they use natural barriers formed by bamboo forests, especially thorny bamboo forests, as defensive entities. They can also block typhoons and prevent typhoons from invading houses. Towering ancient trees are often planted at the entrances and exits of villages or in public areas. Some ancient trees have earth temples built next to them, and people come to worship them during festivals. Next to villagers' houses, there are usually large and small drying grounds. These drying grounds are not only places for villagers to dry their grains, but also places for villagers' activities. Every hot summer evening, men, women, old and young come to the sunbathing field together to chat and enjoy the cool air, sometimes even all night long. Some Hakka villages in Lingnan have an open space of several square meters in front of the door for erecting masts. Whenever someone in the family obtains an honor, a mast about 15 meters long is erected in the mast area and a merit flag is hung. This also constitutes a Hakka village. a unique landscape. Due to the climate characteristics of the Lingnan region, there are generally few barren mountains and bare land. There is an evergreen green environment everywhere. Each natural village is like a garden, with fruit trees, bamboos, bananas... The emerald sea is dotted with gray and white houses, which is very elegant. Even in the scorching sun, the room is cool. The village is surrounded by rice fields. The crops change with the seasons, setting off each other with the village, presenting a charming scene. Even with the emergence of modern industry and modern agriculture, high-rise buildings have appeared in the villages. But the traditional ecological landscape culture is still very strong.