Why Chinese Old Roof Tiles Are Grey Color?

Some people will notice some Chinese old buildings only use grey color roof tiles, especially the buildings in Tang and Song Dynasty. The famous projects are Suzhou Gardens, and other China Gardens in the South China. These buildings are famous for their grey architectural tone.

So why the people in the ancient like to use grey color roof tiles? This reason can trace back to Qin Dynasty (2200 years ago). The people at that time advocated black colors. The soldiers and officers uniforms and the flags are black colors, even the clothes of emperor are black color. People think black color can highlight the solemn of the buildings. Hence, the buildings use grey bricks and roof tiles.

There is another reason. In ancient China, black and grey colors stand for water in Five Elements. In that time, most of house structures were made of wood, water can restrict fire. While red color stands for fire, so people use black or grey roof tiles and until now.

Chinese people are fond of solemn and simple building style. That is why in South China, the buildings use grey roof tiles and white walls.