ARCHITECTURE
Most people in ancient China could not afford to live in fancy houses. They lived in small houses made of mudbrick, with only one room and a dirt floor, just the way most people in the Roman Empire orWest Asia or Africa lived, and the way most people in the world still live today. In Northern China, the doors of these houses usually faced south, to keep out the cold north wind.
Hall of Supreme Harmony, Forbidden City (Beijing, 1450 AD)
Rich people had fancier houses, and people also built fancy temples and palaces. All ancient Chinese architecture was built according to strict rules of design that made Chinese buildings follow the ideas of Taoism or other Chinese philosophies. The first design idea was that buildings should be long and low rather than tall - they should seem almost to be hugging you. The roof would be held up by columns, and not by the walls. The roof should seem to be floating over the ground. The second design idea was symmetry: both sides of the building should be the same, balanced, just as Taoism emphasized balance. Even as early as the Shang Dynasty, about 1500 BC, Chinese buildings looked pretty much like this, with curved tile roofs and long rows of pillars. The palaces of the Chou Dynasty, and then the Chin Dynasty, continued in this same style.
White Pagoda (Chengde)
The biggest change in Chinese architecture came during the Han Dynasty, in the 200s BC, when the new religion of Buddhism first came to China from India. Many Chinese Buddhists began to build pagodas to keep sacred things in. At first these pagodas were related to Indianbuildings called stupas.
When Buddhism became more important in China in the 500s AD, during the Three Kingdoms period, architects began to build special Buddhist temples.
But under the Sui Dynasty , in the early 600s AD, the ideas of symmetry and balance that were important in Taoism became more important again.
At the same time, people continued to want Buddhist pagodas. Under theTang dynasty, architects designed even fancier Buddhist pagodas, with eight sides. One famous eight-sided stone pagoda is the White Pagoda at Chengde.
Under the Sung dynasty, about the year 1000 AD, people wanted their pagodas to be tall and thin, with high spires. To make them fancier, they had complicated wooden lattices all around them.
While the Mongol Yuan dynasty ruled China, about 1200-1300 AD, they built great palaces at Beijing, with many huge halls. The great architectural accomplishment of the Ming dynasty in the 1400s was to build the Forbidden City, a huge palace where the emperors lived. But the Forbidden City's buildings still follow pretty much the same architectural rules as the palaces of the Shang Dynasty, three thousand years earlier.
Hall of Supreme Harmony, Forbidden City (Beijing, 1450 AD)
Rich people had fancier houses, and people also built fancy temples and palaces. All ancient Chinese architecture was built according to strict rules of design that made Chinese buildings follow the ideas of Taoism or other Chinese philosophies. The first design idea was that buildings should be long and low rather than tall - they should seem almost to be hugging you. The roof would be held up by columns, and not by the walls. The roof should seem to be floating over the ground. The second design idea was symmetry: both sides of the building should be the same, balanced, just as Taoism emphasized balance. Even as early as the Shang Dynasty, about 1500 BC, Chinese buildings looked pretty much like this, with curved tile roofs and long rows of pillars. The palaces of the Chou Dynasty, and then the Chin Dynasty, continued in this same style.
White Pagoda (Chengde)
The biggest change in Chinese architecture came during the Han Dynasty, in the 200s BC, when the new religion of Buddhism first came to China from India. Many Chinese Buddhists began to build pagodas to keep sacred things in. At first these pagodas were related to Indianbuildings called stupas.
When Buddhism became more important in China in the 500s AD, during the Three Kingdoms period, architects began to build special Buddhist temples.
But under the Sui Dynasty , in the early 600s AD, the ideas of symmetry and balance that were important in Taoism became more important again.
At the same time, people continued to want Buddhist pagodas. Under theTang dynasty, architects designed even fancier Buddhist pagodas, with eight sides. One famous eight-sided stone pagoda is the White Pagoda at Chengde.
Under the Sung dynasty, about the year 1000 AD, people wanted their pagodas to be tall and thin, with high spires. To make them fancier, they had complicated wooden lattices all around them.
While the Mongol Yuan dynasty ruled China, about 1200-1300 AD, they built great palaces at Beijing, with many huge halls. The great architectural accomplishment of the Ming dynasty in the 1400s was to build the Forbidden City, a huge palace where the emperors lived. But the Forbidden City's buildings still follow pretty much the same architectural rules as the palaces of the Shang Dynasty, three thousand years earlier.
Great Wall
The Chinese worked on the Great Wall for over 1700 years. In turn, each emperor who came to power added pieces of the wall to protect their dynasties. But the wall was not a solid wall. It was a line of disconnected barricades.
First Emperor Qin wanted a much better barricade to protect his people from the Mongol invaders to the north. He wanted a strong wall 30 feet wide and 50 feet high.
First Emperor Qin used peasants, captured enemies, criminals, scholars, and anyone else who irritated him, and put them all to work building the Great Wall. Laborers were not paid for their work. It was slave labor.
About 3000 people worked on the wall during the Qin Dynasty. Rocks fell on people. Walls caved in. Workers died of exhaustion and disease. Laborers were fed only enough food to keep them alive. There is an old Chinese saying, "Each stone in the wall represents a life lost in the wall's construction.
This project continued long after First Emperor Qin’s death. Building the wall was a project that continued for many hundreds of years until the wall was over 3700 miles long (NZ is 1200 miles long). Most emperors used the same system that Qin used, forced labor.
First Emperor Qin wanted a much better barricade to protect his people from the Mongol invaders to the north. He wanted a strong wall 30 feet wide and 50 feet high.
First Emperor Qin used peasants, captured enemies, criminals, scholars, and anyone else who irritated him, and put them all to work building the Great Wall. Laborers were not paid for their work. It was slave labor.
About 3000 people worked on the wall during the Qin Dynasty. Rocks fell on people. Walls caved in. Workers died of exhaustion and disease. Laborers were fed only enough food to keep them alive. There is an old Chinese saying, "Each stone in the wall represents a life lost in the wall's construction.
This project continued long after First Emperor Qin’s death. Building the wall was a project that continued for many hundreds of years until the wall was over 3700 miles long (NZ is 1200 miles long). Most emperors used the same system that Qin used, forced labor.