Chinese traditional roofs are colorful museums
April 28th, 2022

■ collection weekly reporter Pan Weiqian

Small tile, big roof; Create a “room” to echo the “universe”.

Now, let’s lift our eyes slightly from the closest and delicate tiles, look at the roof, look at the cocking and cornices that stand proudly in the forest of World Architecture, and then take a look at this unique architectural system founded by generations of wise ancestors of China in the past 3500 years.

one

The roof is one of the three main sections of Chinese architecture

“The Yin Dynasty ruins excavated by archaeologists prove that this unique (Chinese Architecture) system has been basically formed by the 15th century BC. Its basic characteristics have been preserved to the most modern times.” Liang Sicheng said.

In his book Gu Zhuo: the beauty of ancient architecture written by Liang Sicheng, he begins with his introduction to the nine basic features of Chinese architecture. In his opinion, the “wing shaped roof” and the “platform shaped roof” of the upper part of the Chinese building are the basic characteristics of the upper part of the building itself.

The roof is the crown and head of a building. Yu Hao’s book of wood in the Northern Song Dynasty also regarded the roof as one of the three main paragraphs of Chinese architecture.

“The roof has always occupied an extremely important position in Chinese architecture. Its tile surface is curved, as mentioned above. When the roof is sloped on four sides, the four corners of the roof are raised. Its magnificent decoration has also been discovered and used for a long time. In other system buildings, the roof has always been neglected. Except for the special treatment of the dome, the slope roof is generally hastily treated, stiff and boring , even with parapets to hide it. But in China, the craftsmen of ancient wisdom gave full play to the huge decoration of the roof part very early. In the book of songs, there are sentences such as “like a bird flying” and “like a Hui flying” to praise the roof and eaves with stretched wings. Since the beginning of the book of songs, there have been more words describing the top of the house and its various decorations in many poems and songs since the Han Dynasty. This proves that the roof is not only loved by the people for thousands of years, but also the proudest achievement of our nation. Its development has become one of the most important features of Chinese architecture. “ Liang Sicheng said.

two

Rammed earth columns and vertical beams are only required to support the roof

In fact, perhaps in this system, all efforts are only to finally build a roof that can protect against wind and rain.

Let’s look at the steps of “building a house”: Chinese traditional architecture does not dig deep into the foundation as it is now. It rammes earth on the ground to build a high platform; Then, the columns and beams enter the site - the square body surrounded by four beams on the upper end frame of the four columns forms a “room”. “Rooms have become not only the basic units of all kinds of buildings, but also the units to measure building regulation, which are standardized by the width of several rooms and the depth of several rooms.”

“Craftsmen spent a lot of time erecting beams and columns. Their ultimate goal is to support a large roof to keep out the sun, rain, heat and wind. The so-called” secure thousands of buildings and shelter all the poor people in the world “. The roofs of Chinese buildings have various forms, and they choose veranda, Xie mountain, hanging mountain, hard mountain or rolling shed according to different levels. The roof symbolizes the sky cover and bears the grace of heaven, so the decoration of the roof is both praying for blessings and driving away evil spirits , fire prevention and drainage. “ Li Qianlang, a famous scholar of ancient architecture, introduced this in his book through the wall: a cross-sectional view of Chinese classical ancient architecture. In the past 20 years, following the footprints of Liang Sicheng, he has traveled all over the north and south of the river to uncover the secrets of Chinese ancient buildings.

three

The most charming “Fifth Facade”

The roof, the “Fifth Facade” of Chinese architecture, is majestic, elegant or charming, with all kinds of decorative components. Under the blue sky, the Chinese people have created countless colorful “museums” in the deep sky. It is not only full of rules and rationality, but also full of romantic imagination.

“The overhanging eaves, the elastic eaves curve, the slightly curved roof formed by the truss, and the slightly upturned corners (looking up at the corners, the corner rafters unfold like bird wings, so it is called ‘wing corners’) As well as the changes of many roof forms, coupled with the brilliant glazed tiles, the building has a unique and strong visual effect and artistic appeal. It can be seen that the roof of ancient Chinese architecture plays a particularly important role in building facade. The roof presents various forms due to different building functions and volume, and the shape and outline of the building become more and more abundant due to various combinations of building groups. Looking down from a high altitude, the roof effect is better, that is to say, the ‘fifth facade’ of Chinese architecture is the most attractive. “ Liu Shuting introduced this in her “interpretation of Chinese traditional architectural roof culture”.

The decorative components of the roof are composed of ridge, wing angle, Baoding, tile, dripping water and tile general.

Here we should focus on the “ridge”. The joint between the two slopes is the most vulnerable part of the whole roof. Reinforce and seal with bricks and tiles to form a ridge. The format of various roofs depends on the treatment of the ridge. The highest level “veranda” style has five ridges. Xieshan style has nine ridges. When the ridge extends outward, it becomes a unique “push mountain” shape. Giving up the ridge becomes a “rolling shed”. When the ridge shrinks until it becomes a point, it is “round and sharp” (Zhao Guangchao’s “not only Chinese wood architecture”).

For these different formats of Chinese roofs, here we quote Jia Junying and Zheng Lianzhang’s “style of Forbidden City palace roof” published in the Journal of the National Palace Museum, which is visually displayed in the form of pictures.

Moreover, as Zhao Guangchao said, China’s roofs are so beautiful that they can be enjoyed independently. An independent roof is called a “Pavilion”. Like Hui Sifei, there are Pavilion wings, misty rain in front of the eaves and swallows, which is the scene we are familiar with.

four

The invention of “roof tile” and “tile Dang”

Then we’re going back to the tiles on the roof. Covering the head with tiles has always been the most simple and basic desire of the working people for thousands of years.

Shan Shiyuan, an expert in the history of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and an ancient architect who has worked in the Forbidden City for 74 years, talked about the development of Chinese roof tiles in his book the construction of the Forbidden City. At the primitive social site of Banpo village in Xi’an more than 6000 years ago, the accumulation of remaining houses shows that the roof surface is covered with mud. Later, because the thatched roof was lighter, it was gradually popularized. The idiom “plan ahead” means to tie the thatch tightly to prevent dripping when it doesn’t rain

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