Architecture Culture in ancient China

There are three greatest architectural styles in the worldarchitecture: Western architecture, Islamic architecture, and Chinese architecture. Chinese architecture culture is unique in the principle of balance and symmetry and in employing the timber skeleton as its main structure. The distribution of interior space reflects Chinese social and ethnical values.

The Chinese architecture is as old as Chinese civilization.

Chinese architecture is often characterized by the following styles:

(1) The royal palace and city planning, which reflects china’s supreme imperial authority and social estate system;

(2) Courtyard around an axis;

(3) The perfect harmony with nature.

Chinese architecture can be classified into the following structure forms: royal palaces; residential houses; gardening; bridges; religious temples, pagodas, grottoes and so on. In Chinese architecture famous cities are neat; imperial palaces are magnificent, large and extravagant; imperial tombs are solemn and breathtaking, sacrificial and ancestral altars and temples are mysterious, gardens are delicate and exquisite, bridges are various and ordinary dwellings are of natural simplicity, even their roofs are detailed to the last drop of gloss or paint.

Since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

hancheng

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