Storeyed Building (Lou)

            There are many famous Chinese buildings in ancient poems, such as, Yueyang Lou,

which was built by Chinese antique root tiles

        When the Chinese people speak of a Lou, they refer to any building of two or more

storeys with a horizontal main ridge. The erection of such buildings began a long time ago

in the Period of the Warring States (475-221 BC), when Chonglou ("layered houses") was

mentioned in historical records.

        Ancient buildings with more than one storey were meant for a variety of uses. The

smaller two-storeyed buildings of private homes generally have the owner's study or

bedroom upstairs. The more magnificent ones built in parks or at scenic spots were

belvederes from which to enjoy the distant scenery. In this case, it is sometimes translated as

a "tower". A Tang Dynasty poet upon his visit to a famous riverside tower composed a poem,

two lines of which are still frequently quoted "To look far into the distance, go up yet one more storey".

   

       Ancient cities had bell and drum towers (zhonglou and gulou), usually palatial buildings with four-

sloped, double-caved, glazed roofs, all-around verandas and coloured and carved dougong brackets

supporting the overhanging eaves. They housed a big bell or drum which was used to toll hours and

the local officials would open the city gates at the toll of the bell early in the morning and close them

with the strike of the drum in the evening.

        The art of constructing tall buildings was already highly developed in China during ancient times.

Many multiple-storeyed towers of complex structure had wholly wood frameworks fixed together with

dougong brackets without the use of a single piece of metal. Yueyang Tower in Hunan and Huanghelou

(Tower of the Yellow Crane) in Wuchang are masterpieces among ancient towers.