Traditional Chinese Architecture

About the Topic

Elevation and section of the main hall at Foguang Temple, Mount Wutai, Shanxi

Lin Huiyin describes Chinese architecture in Common Knowledge of Chinese Architecture as a distinct Eastern system, with deep origins and a comparatively continuous development whose basic structure changed little under outside influence.

Chinese architecture emerged in prehistory, developed under the Han, matured under the Tang, and reached a refined form under the Song. The account presented here sees signs of rigidity under the Ming and Qing, followed by decline in the late Qing and Republican period.

The transmission of an architectural system’s internal structure and external form across roughly thirty centuries is a substantial cultural achievement.

Contrary to impressions formed by modern Western influence, Chinese and Western architecture often developed alongside one another, each with distinctive achievements. In some periods, Chinese architecture was more advanced, before being overtaken in more recent times.

Architecture expresses a culture’s particular character. Losing that artistic character would be a loss in cultural expression.

Guanyin Pavilion, Dule Temple, Jixian, Tianjin

Alongside wider cultural circumstances, the continuity of Chinese architecture owes much to its clearly organized, structurally effective, and ingenious timber-frame system.

The Tao edition of Yingzao Fashi

In this talk, we can:

Survey major achievements and changes in traditional Chinese architecture.

Revisit the architectural research and documentation of the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture, including Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin.

Use the Song official building manual Yingzao Fashi and surviving structures to examine the ideas, logic, and aesthetics of timber construction.