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Chapter 45 On Several Characteristics of Chinese Architecture (2)
This curve is almost unbelievably simple and natural in structure, and at the same time adds a lot of charm in terms of aesthetics.The beauty of the cornices does not need to be pointed out by scholars.But be aware that excessive and extreme tendencies often turn the originally natural and reasonable structure into artifice and complexity.This excessive tendency, on the surface, naturally presents a fragile and ostentatious weakness, which is not appreciated by the aesthetics, but most people often think that the more ingenious and complicated, the more beautiful, and this tendency is encouraged invisibly.Where the craftsmanship is flexible in the south, the excessive cornices are such examples.Although it is a romantic gesture on the outside, it is easy to attract praise, but it is not as solemn and appropriate as the north, and meets the most pure and pure aesthetic conditions.

The roof curve is not limited to overhanging eaves, that is, the entire tile slope is not a straight slope.The slope of the roof slope increases as it goes up.

The origin of this slope is based on the heightening of the stacked beams. This system is called "lifting frame method".The principle of raising the frame is very obvious, and the formula for raising the frame is also very simple. It is just to increase the height of the melon columns on the beam frame one after another, especially to make the melon columns on the spine very high.

The method of making the edge of the eaves turn upside down, and then add a second layer of eaves rafters.This layer of rafters is very short and is only carried on top of the head eaves rafters, and another section is overhanging.In this way, although the overhang of the eaves is extended, it will not be lowered to block the light.

Generally speaking, the roof curve, which has always been regarded as extremely peculiar and mysterious, has nothing beyond the structural principles and unnatural artificiality. At the same time, it is very successful in terms of aesthetics and practicality.All the curves of the roof slope, the upper part is raised high, and the eaves are spread out like wings, making the originally boring and clumsy roof part become the beautiful crown of the whole building.

In "Zhou Li", there is a sentence that "the superior wants to be respected, but the lower one wants to be humble; the upper one wants to be inferior, and the spitting water will be far away".This sentence can be said to clearly express the practical effect.

When it comes to the roof, of course we also need to pay attention to the various decorations on the roof tiles.As mentioned above, carvings must be installed in the structural part to be valuable, so what about the ridge tile kissing beast on our roof tiles?

Ridge tiles can be said to be a method of edging the ridge joints where two slopes meet. Of course, there are too complicated ones, but they are used to decorate a structural part honestly, rather than reluctantly to cover up a structural hinge or joint. It is the longest part of Chinese architecture.

The ridges and beasts on the tiles are undoubtedly part of the structure.The current faucet-shaped "Zheng kiss" was called "Qiwei" in ancient times, and it must have been a wooden key for the "supporting ridge wood" and the ridge truss in the beginning.The wooden key protrudes from the ridge, which is slightly in the shape of a bird. Later, it is slightly decorated and carved into the tail of a bird, which is also a natural change.The reason why it is called the owl-tail also has a symbolic meaning, because there is a legend that the owl can spit water, and putting it on the tile ridge can make a fire.

The beast must be a kind of big wooden nail at first, passing through the tiles on the vertical ridge, to the "Yujia"

And on the "horn beam" to prevent the tiles from slipping down on the slanted ridge. In Tang Dynasty, it has become two "precious pearls" in the current position of "beast" and "immortal".The offspring's tail became "Dragon Kiss", and the orbs became "Jian Beast" and "Immortal", and "Jian Beast" and "Immortal" were added.

The row of "beasts" in the middle is just a change in the carvings.

In addition, the beasts on the vertical ridge are relatively large, and at the end of the "Youjian" section, a row of beasts is decorated on the corner beams, revealing the basic structural segments, which is also very natural and reasonable.

The extra complex patterns on the roof tiles in the south are completely divorced from the pure display skills of the structural tasks, which is very boring and not worthy of praise.

Because of the special form of the Chinese roof, which is very different from the European and Western families, foreigners have paid more attention to it.There are many discussions and wonderful ideas.Some say that Chinese roofs are based on tents in the nomadic era, some say that pictograms cover the sky with pine branches, some say that Chinese cornices are grotesque, some say that Chinese architecture is a joke, and some are all based on beast dragon heads. It is meaningless to discuss the meaning, almost It's not worth the time to disprove it here.In short, this kind of curved roof has been analyzed from the structure, and examined in principle from the carving facilities, and its beauty and practicality are obviously clear, which cannot be denied.

Our conclusions may simply admit to its great artistic success.

The second distinctive feature of Chinese architecture, which is closely related to the roof, is the "dou" part (see Figure [-] on the next page).Initially, the eaves were supported by the rafters, the rafters were supported by the eaves, and the trusses were supported by the beam ends.The beam end is extended by the beam frame and extends out of the column.However, since the eaves of a tall building are deep, it is bound to be invincible when supported by the beam end alone. As a result, overlapping wooden "warps" are bound to be supported under the beam end.However, the weight of the eaves edge is not enough to rely on wooden warps alone, especially the larger the building, the farther the distance between the two columns is, so a horizontal fork is created to accept the eaves truss.The front and back wooden warps, and the left and right sides are combined to form the whole "dou" (the bucket-shaped wooden blocks between the upper and lower layers or warps at the two ends and intersections of the warp are called). "Ang" was originally another kind of warp, with the rear obliquely protruding from the bucket to support the "golden truss".

The bucket is the transition part between the column and the roof.The weight of the outgoing eaves is gradually concentrated until the top of the column.The evolution of fighting has always been an improvement in technique, but the fighting of later generations has changed to a very complicated level since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and there have been some excessive parts in structure and changes in position.Originally, the bucket was limited to the top of the column (now called column head bucket), but later, for the sake of appearance, a collection of so-called "Pingshenke" was added between the fourth column and the column.In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Ping Shen Division increased to six or seven collections, arranged in a row, completely becoming decorations and losing their original function. The function of the rear part of "ang" is also abolished, leaving only the form of the front part.

However, when the complex bucket is indeed the most appropriate joint between the column and the eaves, the weight of the horizontally spread eaves is concentrated on the vertical columns, and at the same time it becomes an embellishment under the eaves, and it can be used as the most decorative part of the structure itself. good regulations.It's a pity that the buildings of later generations have mostly lightened the structural importance of the bucket, making it almost purely a luxury decoration, depriving Chinese architecture of a superior core element.

Due to space limitations, the evolution style and structure of Dou cannot be described in detail, but its importance and advantages can only be pointed out here based on its very basic principles.

The most important part below the bucket is naturally the pillars, and the delicate woodwork between the pillars.The contrast between the burly columns and the detailed wooden doors and windows is another point of artistic satisfaction.More than that, due to the original reason that wood cannot last for a long time, Chinese architecture has the characteristics of color.The purpose of painting on the structure of the wood is: ([-]) to preserve the wood against wind and rain, ([-]) to firmly bind joints everywhere, and ([-]) to increase the characteristics of color.This is also the benefit of both aesthetics and reality, and colors cannot be used for unique and prosperous performances.The painted facilities are very cautious in Chinese architecture, and their locations are mostly limited to the structural parts under the eaves, hidden in the shadows.The main colors are also "cool colors" such as blue and green, sometimes with a little gold dots.Most of the colors below the other eaves are pure red, which is a reflection of the painted paintings under the eaves.The Chinese people's color manipulation can be described as appropriate.If color is abused throughout the building, so that the top and bottom are dazzling, it will become a barbaric phenomenon and lose all dignity and harmony.There are quite a few people who violate this taboo in other buildings, and it can be seen that the Chinese have super artistic views.

After the production of colorful glazed tiles, even the dull blue tiles have become pieces of magnificent golden jasper. This is the great glory of Chinese architecture, but the abuse of variegated tiles is also a danger. It is our responsibility to avoid this temptation. Something to be proud of.

There is also one of the most basic structural parts—the platform—although there is nothing special to discuss and praise, but from the perspective of the whole building, there is such a majestic and lofty roof without a particularly stretched or multi-layered base. , it must show the trend of being heavy at the top and light at the bottom, so since there is a special roof, there must be a corresponding base.Architectural buildings are lighter than masonry buildings, and there are few multi-storey pavilions in China, and the basic structure is quite simple.The base of the large building has a considerable stone pattern, and the distribution of this pattern seems to be based on the original wooden platform, which is gradually applied to the stone.There are stone railings, stone steps, and auxiliary parts of the chariot path connected with the platform base, all of which have their own functions and are extremely beautiful decorations at the same time.

The last point about the characteristics of Chinese architecture is naturally its special layout.The most special thing about the layout is that it is absolutely in line with the principle of balance and proportion, and the left and right are evenly divided.This kind of distribution is not due to the structure, but mainly due to the original religious thought and form, social organization system, and people's customs. Later, because they like to keep the old and imitate the old, they mostly inherit the traditional practices.As a result, the principle of balance and proportionality has become a stubborn hobby unique to China.

There are many exceptions to the balanced arrangement of buildings.Due to the solemn and dull arrangement, it can arouse intentional romantic changes; such gardens, villas, palaces and pavilions are extremely tortuous and changeable in plane, which is the opposite of the symmetrical arrangement.There are two extreme and opposite arrangements in Chinese architecture, and there are quite a few examples of mixed changes between these two solemn and romantic planes, which provide many interesting studies and can dispel the impetuous conclusions of Westerners, saying that Chinese architectural arrangements are complete. Monotonous and uninteresting.However, the twists and turns of the gallery pavilions have to be quite restricted.Although artificiality that is too forced and tricky can amaze ordinary people, it is the most despised by aesthetics.

Here we would like to point out several weaknesses of Chinese architecture.

([-]) Chinese craftsmen often spend too much on wood, especially beams.They obviously don't understand that the strength of the beam load is only proportional to the height of the beam, and has little relationship with the width of the beam.Therefore, the width of the beam, from the perspective of modern engineering, is often too much.

At the same time, the craftsman had no way to calculate the wood force for the size of the beam, so he had to enlarge it as much as possible and use a huge factor of safety (safety factor) to ensure safety.The result is a huge waste of material.

([-]) Although they knew that the triangle is the only geometric shape that does not change, they rarely applied this principle.Therefore, the trusses of Chinese roofs are in danger of tilting after a short period of time.We can see this kind of sloping houses supported by brick walls or wooden pillars everywhere on Beiping Street.Not only that, the non-application of the triangle principle is also a major reason for the cost of roof beams, because if this principle can be applied, smaller timbers can be used for the beams.

([-]) Too shallow foundation is a serious problem of Chinese architecture.Ordinary regulations stipulate that it is half of the height of Taiming, and a few more dusts are placed underneath.This method is not thorough, especially in the north, if the foundation is not planed below the frost line (Frost line), the solid aspect of the building will definitely have problems due to the freezing of the ground.Fortunately, these shortcomings are not a problem in the hands of the new architect.We are afraid that we don't understand it. After we understand it, it is very easy to avoid or correct it.

The detailed hinges in the structure are often hated parts in the Western systems.Architects have gone to great lengths to conceal them.The big ones are covered by a parapet like a roof, and the internal structure of a beam frame is all hidden in the canopy; the small ones are like nails and hinges, and they are all details to be hidden.Unique Chinese architecture dares to expose all structural parts without the habit of hiding them. The big ones are like beams, rafters, beam heads, and roof ridges, and the small ones are like nails, hinges, and hoops. All of them are exposed to the outside. Or slightly carved, or arranged into lines, so that it can be turned into a kind of embellishment.Almost all structures have their own artistic contributions.This feature has historically been unique to Chinese architecture, except for Western high-rise buildings.

Now we are just starting to study. In the future, if we can fully examine the origins and changes of Chinese architecture, the advantages and disadvantages at that time will be clearly displayed, and we can discuss it carefully and serve as a guide for the future trend of Chinese architecture. Ordinary architects either completely abandoned this past system, or followed the example of the Westerners, blindly copying Chinese palaces and making meaningless attempts.

Regarding the future of Chinese architecture, there is one more noteworthy point: the principle of our structure coincides with the same principle as modern "cement iron frame" or "steel frame" buildings; the frame is based on columns and beams.Driven by modern life, modern European architecture has decidedly adopted a revolutionary attitude, using modern scientific materials as much as possible, and adopting other methods and forms to meet the needs of modern life.If factories, schools, hospitals, and other public buildings need the convenience of daylight, they can no longer imitate the classical style of masonry, resulting in more walls and fewer windows.

Since the Chinese frame system coincides with the same principle as the modern method, only the building materials need to be changed in the future, and the main structural parts will not undergo drastic changes. At the same time, due to the possibility of materials, new developments will be made, and a very satisfactory new building will be produced.

published in
March 1932, "China Construction Society Journal", Volume 3, Issue 3

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