Religious Architecture

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Religious constructions can be found all over China. They differ in layouts of buildings, ways of groupings, systems of colored paintings and themes of engravings according to the different religious doctrines and requirements of usages. They are also different from other kinds of structures. They are important cultural relics and art treasures of high value.

Chinese Buddhist architecture consists of teples, pagodas and grottos. Localization starts right after Buddhist architecture was introduced into China with Buddhism during the Han dynasty, interpreting Chinese architectural aesthetics and culture. As the central structure of spreading Buddhism in China, temples are where cenobites live their religious life. Previous to the Sui dynasty, the pagoda, as the main building, was built in the center of a temple. Later, the figure of Buddha was emplaced into the hall of a teple to be worshiped. As a result, the pagoda was built in other places, and the hall became the center of religious activities.

Chinese Buddhist architecture follows symmetric style strictly. Usually main buildings will be set on the central axis, facing the south. Annex structures will be on the west and east flanks. The temple gate, Heavenly King Hall, the Main Hall and Sutra Library successively stand on the axis. The dormkitchen, dinning hall, storehouse and antechamber usually cluster on the right side while left side remains for the visitors.

Another Buddhist architecture is the grotto coplex, which are caves hewn on cliff walls, usually huge projects and with exquisite engravings. It came from India with Buddhism too and boomed during the Northern and Southern dynasties. The famous Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes were al1 carved then.

Graceful Garden Architectures

Gardeningis one of the important types of architectural art. Its essence is to construct beautiful surroundings by designing all the elements-mountain, water, building, road, indoor decoration, etc. in a harmonious and organic way. There are two categories of gardening: iperial gardens in Beijing and private gardens in the South.

The Chinese garden architectures are characterized by taking advantage of the environment so that the natural scenes and human interests could be merged. They shun symmetry along an axis and adopt an irregular and complicated layout with plenty of large and small spaces. The appearance of a garden building should be aesthetic and expressive, and enhance the beauty of the surroundings. Suzhou classical gardens including Canglang Pavilion, Lion’s Woods, Zhuozheng Garden (Humble Administrator’s Garden), and Liu Garden are the representatives of southern private gardens.

First, ancient architecture embodies the traditional ethical ideas. The construction of houses of ordinary people or palaces of eperors, and the planning of a courtyard or the layout of a city all reflect the relationships between people in social life and the

Third，the principle of integration of variety is another feature of traditional architecture.In the composition，various ways and means are used to combine large buildings with small ones，complicated structures with simple ones，and to regard the hollow as solid and the solid as hollow，and to complement each other.For example，the entrance of the Zhuozheng Garden in Suzhou leads to a circular gatethrough a meandering narrow lane between houses.A rockery stands in front of the gate as a screen to prevent one from getting a full view of the garden.

Fourth，China’s traditional architecture also embodies commnication and blending of traditional culture with other cultures.This ethos of commnication expressed in ancient constructions lies in the exchanges of architectural skills and art between different regions and different ethnic groups and the blending and assimilation of outstanding foreign cultures.