Courtyard and Screen Wall of Ancient Chinese architecture
2 min readCourtyard
The three-bay house can be understood to be the basic unit of Chinese homes.Depending on the size and the wealth of the family，these houses were added on to，often in standard ways.One common extension of the three-bay house was the creation of a courtyard dwelling.Traditionally，one family would share a courtyard space.
A notable feature of the courtyard house is that the complex is fully enclosed by buildings and walls.There are no windows on the outside walls，and usually the only opening to the outside is through the front gate.
The compounds had an inner courtyard（or a series of inner courtyards）and were built on a north-south axis.
Screen Wall
Screen walls are called”Zhaobi”or”Yingbi”in Chinese，which are built facing the gates of quadrangles.The upper part of them is covered with semi-circle tiles，the middle part isbuilt with bricks and the lower part is the base.
It was not easy to see what a house contained by peeking through the front gate.Courtyards were constructed in such a way that when one looked through the first doorway of the house only a brick screen was visible.The screen wall can be carved with some patterns or can be decorated in certain styles preferred by the owners.
There are some types of sceen wall:most of them are shaped as“-”in Chinese，some are shaped as“ba”inChinese and some are shaped as wings of birds.
Access to the rest of the house required first turning.Ideally，the main door did not line up exactly with the inner quarters.
