Ancient Chinese Architecture - The Wisdom of Creating Across the Past and Present

    Architecture often reflects the aesthetic and cognitive level of an era, and is deeply influenced by artistic and cultural factors. At the same time, it also represents the technological level of the entire society to some extent.

    Technology and culture are the two attributes of ancient Chinese architecture, one hard and one soft. Technology is the bright line of architecture, and culture can be understood as the dark line of architecture. The two lines are intertwined, and under their joint action, different architectural styles with certain differences are formed in different periods, different regions and different nationalities.

    Earth and wood are the two core materials of ancient Chinese architecture. They play an important role in traditional Chinese construction technology and architectural cultural heritage. "Earth and wood" is also used to refer to construction projects in general. Raw earth refers to unfired and simply processed original soil. It is one of the most ancient and widely used traditional construction materials in my country and even in the world.
    Since the Neolithic Age about 8,000 years ago, humans have begun to use earth as a material to build buildings. Today's cave dwellings are typical raw earth buildings. Wood is definitely the mainstream material of traditional construction, and it also achieves and condenses the height and wisdom of ancient Chinese wood construction skills.

    Ancient Chinese architecture can be made of earth or wood alone, or a mixture of earth and wood. Traditional Chinese dwellings, such as earthen buildings, are typical earthen and wood mixed structures. The architectural form of the earthen building itself is quite special. It is a combination of a rammed earth outer wall more than one meter thick and an internal wooden frame, which has a certain defensive function. Under certain circumstances, the ancients were able to combine and utilize the two most common construction materials, earth and wood, to maximize their effects.
    The use of construction materials is also closely related to the level of scientific and technological development. Today, we mostly use steel grid structures to complete the construction of large-span buildings. But in ancient times, people improved technology through accumulated experience and achieved the construction of large-span bridges using only wooden structures.

    Whether it is the use of construction materials or the use of structural techniques, the maturity of these technologies has a gradual process and matches the level of scientific and technological development of the society at that time. Superb construction technology is not achieved overnight. It starts with the simplest technology and materials, and finally forms the traditional Chinese ancient architectural construction technology with complex structure, complete functions and rich colors.