The Rich and Colorful Artistic Images of Chinese Ancient Architecture

    Architecture is not only a technological science, but also an art form. After a long period of effort, Chinese ancient architecture has absorbed the characteristics of other traditional Chinese arts, especially plastic arts such as painting, sculpture, arts and crafts, created a variety of artistic images, and formed many characteristics in this regard. Among them, there are two prominent aspects.

    1. A decorative roof

    Chinese ancient craftsmen discovered the possibility of using roofs to achieve artistic effects early on. The poem about roofs in the Book of Songs indicates that poets three thousand years ago had already sung praises of the stretched roofs in their poetry. In the Han Dynasty, there were five basic roof styles in later generations - the "Hip roof" on four sides, the "Tented roof" on four sides, six sides, eight sides or round, the "gable roof" with two slopes but two gable walls flush with the roof, the "hanging mountain top" with two slopes and the roof protruding out of the gable, and the "East Asian hip-and-gable roof mountain top".

    Chinese ancient craftsmen made full use of the characteristics of wooden structures to create roof folding, roof lifting, and roof opening, forming eaves and corners that extend like bird wings and soft and beautiful curves in various parts of the roof. At the same time, appropriate carvings are added to the ridge ends of the roof ridge, and the eaves tiles are also decorated. After the Song Dynasty, a large number of Chinese glazed roof tile were used to add color and luster to the roof. In addition, many other roof styles emerged later, as well as various complex shapes with artistic effects formed by the combination of these roofs, which made Chinese ancient architecture gain rich experience in creating the artistic image of buildings by using roof forms, and became one of the important features of Chinese ancient architecture.

    2. The Application of Supporting Architecture

    The application of contrastive architecture is a commonly used artistic technique in advanced buildings such as palaces and temples in ancient China. Its function is to set off the main building. The earliest and most artistic supporting architecture that was used was the "Que" (the two towers in front of the palace gate), which had been built since the Spring and Autumn period. In the Han Dynasty, in addition to palaces and tombs, ancestral temples and large and medium-sized tombs were also used. After the Han Dynasty, various forms of Que were often seen in carvings and murals. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, Que had evolved into the current Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City. Other common artistic setting off buildings include ornamental column, memorial archway, screen wall, stone lion, etc. in front of the main gate of the palace.