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3. The Artistic Treatment of the Architectural Image Ancient Chinese artisans ingeniously made the heavy roofs of buildings look light and graceful by forming the ridges and eaves into curves, and making the four corners stick up. The style of a roof can be divided into four basic types: fudian (wings), xieshan (hip and gable), xuanshan (suspended gable) and yingshan (hard gable), which denote a roof with a single layer, several layers, four corners and many corners. All these make the huge roof an important component of ancient Chinese architecture with an outstanding artistic image. In order to impart lightness and grace to pillars, the diameters of the upper ends or both ends of upright pillars are slightly reduced, making them look like weaving shuttles. Beneath the pillars, stone foundations are needed to prevent humidity from underground eroding the wooden pillars. The foundations are often carved with decorative patterns. With the same purpose in mind, the two ends of the beams and crossbeams are given downward-pointing curves, giving them the shape of a crescent moon; thus they are called "crescent roof beams." The protruding parts of the roof beams are carved into various patterns, such as branches and leaves, and geometric figures. The entrance doors of ancient structures are mostly made of wood with several upright wood boards connected side by side by horizontal wooden planks attached to them by iron nails. The heads of the iron nails are arranged on the doors in a regular order, and the color of the nail heads is different from that of the doors, which make them a special decoration. In addition, the knockers and handle rings on the doors are themselves made into ornaments bearing different patterns. It was only with the advent of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that glass was installed in windows, replacing white paper. To make the pasting of the paper easier, wooden window lattices forming various complicated patterns, including geometric figures and plants, were installed. As for open-air terraces and their balustrades, whether made of stones or bricks, their foundations, the partitions between each balustrade, the column heads of the balustrades and other components are all carved with artistic decorations. Even the bricks and stones left over after the construction of houses are pieced together into different designs according to their shapes and colors, to decorate the grounds around the houses. The decorations on ancient Chinese structures have cultural connotations as well as esthetic ones. The dragon heads on the edges of roof ridges signify the spurting of water to douse fires. The dragon, phoenix, tiger and tortoise were regarded as sacred animals by the ancient Chinese, and they carved images of them on eave tiles which were exclusively used on imperial structures. The emperors were supposed to be descendants of dragons, so there are images of dragons all over imperial structures, from balustrade column heads, terrace steps and stone foundations of pillars to roof beams, paintings on ceilings and carvings on doors and windows. Symbols denoting happiness, honor and longevity can be seen everywhere on traditional Chinese structures, including palaces, temples, gardens, residences, gateways, windows and roof beams. Bats represent happiness, deer stand for honor, and pines, cranes and peaches represent longevity. In addition, there are various patterns made by putting Chinese characters together, like the combination of the characters meaning happiness, longevity and ten thousand. Ancient artisans were also good at using colors to decorate buildings. In the Forbidden City, stretches of yellow glazed tiles glitter under the blue sky, and there is a pleasing contrast between the dark green used beneath eaves, red doors, windows and walls, and white terrace foundations. Structures in private gardens in the south tend to have white walls, gray bricks and black tiles. Roof beams and pillars are usually left unpainted. Standing in harmony with the surrounding green vegetation, these structures create the simple and refined atmosphere beloved by the literati of old.
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Wooden framework, collective layout and the artistic treatment of architectural image are the basic features of ancient Chinese architecture. In the following sections, we will get to know and appreciate the precious treasures of ancient Chinese architecture by introducing palaces, ancestral halls, religious buildings, gardens and local structures.
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