Information about Jiangnan Water Town?
Pink walls and black tiles
The Yangtze River Delta and Taihu water network areas where Jiangnan Water Town is located have a mild climate, distinct seasons, and abundant rainfall. Therefore, a transportation system based on water transportation has been formed. . The production and life of residents depend on water. This natural environment and functional needs have shaped the style and characteristics of the folk houses in Jiangnan water towns that are full of charm.
Most of the residential buildings in Jiangnan water towns are one- and two-story hall-style houses with wooden structures. In order to adapt to the climate characteristics of Jiangnan, the residential layouts are mostly corridors, patios, and courtyards. The structures are tile roofs, empty bucket walls, Guanyin Dou ridges or horse head walls, forming an architectural group style with staggered heights, white walls and black tiles, and deep courtyards. In the environment of a water town with many rivers, there are water lanes, small bridges, revetments, crossings, docks, stone roads, water wall gates, crossing buildings and other architectural sketches with water town characteristics, forming a complete set of water town living environment.
Because the Jiangnan water town has always been one of the most culturally developed areas in the country, with a large concentration of talents, many residents in the water towns are heirs of poetry and calligraphy. And because of the rich products and prosperous industry and commerce, these towns have always been places where officials retired, rich families lived in villas, and scholars lived in scattered places. Of course, those who were literate built their houses carefully; some wealthy gentry and merchants were also artful and hired knowledgeable people to plan their houses, so many exquisite courtyards and houses were left in many water towns. Secondly, most of these waterside dwellings were built in feudal society. Feudal ethics, Confucian tradition, and Feng Shui customs directly affect the business layout and building arrangements of these dwellings. For example, the priority of the hall, the order of front and back, the distinction between host and guest, the separation of master and servant, and the difference between men and women are all designed with unique techniques. This is the ideological reflection of the humanistic factors of the folk houses in the Jiangnan water towns.
According to the scale of residences, they can be divided into three categories: large residences, medium residences and small residences:
Most of the large residences are the residences of wealthy businessmen and officials. They are called "advancing" vertically and "down" horizontally. It ranges from as many as nine advances to as few as four advances, as many as seven drops and as few as one drop. For example, the Shen Hall in Zhouzhuang has seven entrances. Some large houses and gardens are cleverly combined, which not only creates a private garden that is a product of residential architecture, but also adds to the appeal of the residence itself. For example, Tuisi Garden in Li Town is a very exquisite garden.
The layout of a large house usually has a strict axis. The main entrance faces south or east. The house is square and orderly.
The main residence of a large house generally has five entrances, including the foyer (some with shops or buildings along the street), the sedan hall (for parking sedans), the main hall (for receiving important guests and holding wedding and funeral ceremonies), and the inner hall. It is composed of a hall (for meeting relatives and friends, and family discussions) and a women's hall (also called the upper room, often used as a living room). The main building is surrounded by wing rooms or courtyard walls to form a courtyard. Bianluo generally does not open its doors independently. It is often opened from the flower hall (meeting regular guests, holding banquets, etc.), study (reading), garden, inner house (living), and kitchen (mostly opening the door along the back alley, so as not to cause interference, but there are no family-specific bathrooms and toilets. )composition. The entrance of the house is along the street or river, which facilitates the entry and exit of people and the transportation of items. There is often a back alley between the two houses, which not only separates the traffic routes of masters and servants, but also greatly enhances the privacy of the inner house, and is conducive to sound insulation, fire prevention and theft prevention.
The middle house is similar to the big house in form. The difference is that the middle house has fewer entrances, generally less than four, and generally has no edges. The combination of the internal space is not as sophisticated as the big house, but compared with It is more flexible below. Most middle-income families belong to this house.
Small houses are ordinary civilian residences. They are small in scale and mostly have one or two entrances. Some are along the street and some along the river. The layout is relatively random. They are unique alleys and water alleys in water towns. landscape.
Ordinary small houses occupy a small area and have no strict axis. They generally have two entrances and one to three rooms in width. They are free in form and adapted to local conditions. They have reasonable space utilization but poor privacy. Ordinary small houses often have business properties along the river and street. They are located near the river and have a waterfront leading to the water. When the halls of waterside town residences are combined, some distinctive components are created, which not only enriches the content of waterside townhouses, but also has strong characteristics. The patio is a characteristic component used for lighting and ventilation in a residential house. In a general three-heyuan courtyard, its depth is equal to its height, and its widths vary. For example, if the main house has three bays, the width of the open room shall prevail.
Or if the five bays are larger, the width of the bright or secondary bays shall prevail. In large houses, the patios are mostly made into a rectangular shape, and the depth of the two wedges is reduced, or a corridor is used instead of a wing room. The patio is made into a horizontal rectangle, with a long east-west length, good ventilation, and can reduce the sun's exposure in summer. Permanent front and back patios are installed to facilitate ventilation. The backyard patios are generally smaller in depth and planted with deciduous trees to facilitate shade.
The brick-carved gatehouse is built on the front and rear waist doors and is a purely decorative component. The gatehouses in the Ming Dynasty were relatively simple, while the carvings in the Qing Dynasty were more complicated. There are plaques on these gatehouses.
The residential buildings in Qiangshui Township are mainly made of wood, so the walls have an important fire prevention function. Generally, the gables are higher than the roof, and are made into stepped or flat-top high walls, which are called "fire-sealing walls" or "parapets" ". Walls can be divided into two types: solid and hollow, or a mixed type with solid bottom and hollow top. The wall base is usually made of strips of stone and painted with lime. When it is used as a decorative wall, it is veneered with water-polished bricks, which is both simple and shows the wealth of the owner.
Ground: The open-air ground in the courtyard (such as a patio) is paved with stone slabs, blocks, cracked stones or cobblestones, or bricks. The indoor floors are all made of bricks. It is rainy in the south of the Yangtze River, and the groundwater level is shallow, so indoors are prone to moisture. Lime is usually tamped first, sand is laid on top, and bricks are laid on top of the sand to avoid moisture. Wooden floors are used in the living rooms.
The ceiling is an indoor ceiling, which actually adds an air insulation layer to the roof. The pavilions in the big houses and middle houses are all exquisitely decorated with fine wood carvings, and there are various styles such as the boat canopy pavilion, the crane top pavilion, the flower basket pavilion, etc.
The roof and gable roof are paved with blue tiles, and the entire sloping roof is slightly curved inward, which is conducive to roof drainage. There are many ways to make the roof ridge. Ordinary small houses only use tiles vertically, with simple decorations on both ends. . The main halls of large and medium-sized houses are decorated with dragons, chickens and other floral decorations. Ordinary gables are in the hard gable style and do not protrude from the roof. The gables of important buildings such as halls use screen walls that protrude from the roof. Depending on the depth of the house, there are one-mountain, three-mountain and five-mountain screen walls.
The general appearance of the residential buildings in the Jiangnan water towns is: a mixture of bungalows and buildings, with various gables, forming an undulating and patchwork landscape like those on the alleys and waterway revetments. The architectural shapes are light and simple, with virtual and solid shapes. It is well-organized, with light and elegant colors, adapted to local conditions, close to the river and close to the water, and the space outline is soft and full of beauty. Therefore, it is often called "white walls and black tiles" and "houses with small bridges and flowing water".