Table of Contents

Chapter Ⅰ: The Country Grows from under the Roof of the House /1
1.The Slightly Bending Ridge of the House Likea Shoulder-pole /3
2.The Continuation of Mountains and the Regen-eration of Slopes——the Traditional Chinese Curved Roof/8
3.The Beauty of Unevenly Built Eaves of the Folk Houses /10
4.Square Model is the Institution for the Folk Houses /15
5.The Brief and Functional Tiles and Eaves Tile Omaments /18
6.The Country Grows from under the Koof/26

Chapter Ⅱ: The Walls South of the Yangtze——Beauty Lies in AppropriateMake-ups /29
1.The Walls Are Knitted out /31
2.Outer Walls and Facade /31
3.High Walls, Narrow Lanes and Small Drongs /34
4.Partition BoardWoodenWallandPlankWall /36
5.Horsehead Wall /42
6.Bodhisattva Dou /49
7.Courtyard Wall and Fence Wall /51
8.City Wall, the Great Wall and Other Walls /53

Chapter Ⅲ: The Entrance——the Gate of Folk Houses South of the Yangtze/55
1.The Gate as the Key Mark of the House /57
2.Defense——the Original Meaning of the Gate /58
3.The Gate of the Ordinary Family /58
4.The Gate of the Great Mansions /59
5.Gate Lanes and Gate Passages /68
6.Entrance Hall /73
7.The Gate as a Cultural Component /77
8.Other Kinds of Gates and Other Significance of the Gate in Chinese Traditional Culture /81
9.Gate Couplets——the Cultural Space of Folk Houses /84

Chapter Ⅳ: Courtyard and Patio forSacrifice to Heaven and Ancestors/87
1.The Unique Chinese Housing Form and System——Courtyard System /89
2.The Patio Pattern House /91
3.Courtyard House /96
4.Residence-Garden House /100
5.Various Kinds of Patios /107
6.The Function of Patios——for Worship of Heaven and Ancestors /117

Chapter Ⅴ: The Moral and Majestic Institution of Folk Houses/127
1.The Etiquette Attnute ofAncient Hotsing/129
2.Etiquette /130
3.Hierarchical System of the Size of House /131
4.The Immaterial Etiquettes of the Plane Layouts /135

Chapter Ⅵ : The Space Frame and Pattern of Folk Houses——theLand-attached Character and Agriculture-centered Feature /139
1.The Life Style Determining the Residing Pat-tern /141
2.The Land-attached Character of Residential Housing in China /141
3.Agriculture Paradigm and Agriculture-centered Feature /144
4.The Triple-Piece Space Patterrr Gate-Courtyard-House /147
5.Courtyard——the Result of the Agricultural Paradigm /151

Chapter Ⅶ: Instructive Functions of Folk Homes/155
1.The Chinese Housing Culture Is Characterized by the Strongest Sense of Social Respomibility/157
2.Folk Houses as a Textbook /158
3.Garden Houses Southofthe Yangtze-Combination Outgrowth of Habitation with Literature /168

Chapter Ⅷ : Environmental Awareness and Universality of Folk Houses / 181
1.Basic Features of the Terrain and
Landform South of the Yangtze /183
2.Environmental Awareness and Eco-Aesthetics in Village Location Choice and Architectural Layout /183
3.Environmental Awareness and Eco-Aesthetics of Architectural Mould /188
4.Environmental Awareness and Humanity in Architectural Creation /192
5.Fengshui for Existence /193
6.The Residents' Affinity to Water in Regions of Rivers and Lakes /197
7.Small Streets River Lanes and River Wharfs /203

Chapter Ⅸ : Stonework and Carpen-try of Folk Houses /209
1.Drawing on Local Resources: the Vitality of Architecture /211
2.Turning Stone into Jade: Brick Carvings /213
3.Piling Earth into Gold: Mud Walls of Houses /217
4.The Integration of Water and Stone: Stone Works /220
5.The Tale-telling Woods——Wocxtcarvings /222
6.The Large-sized and Small-sized Carpentry and Furniture /228
7.Furniture in the Folk Houses——Like the Third Layer of the Skin of a Person /240

Chapter Ⅹ : Stucco-covered Walls and Dark Blue.Tiles——The Natural Beauty of Folk Houses/245
1.Stucco-covered Walls and Dark Blue Tiles /247
2.Black Railings and Red Columns Tell the Solemn-ness and Tranquility of Large Mansions /254
Index /258
Postscript /262

Sample Pages Preview

Upon inheriting the traditional style of ancient buildings, the curvedroof south of the Yangtze has been simplified according to the practicalcondition and needs. The prominent feature of the roof is its function be-sides the universal spirit inherited from the ancients.
Among the folk houses, the roofings of the ordinary people are builtin straight slopes, but those of the nobles are built in inverted-universeroofs which are formed by adopting the raising-of-truss method. The alti-tude difference of the adjacent ridge-poles is calculated by the length ofthe supporting rack times numbers of the supporting poles. This makes theroof form an "A-shaped' slope for the good drainage and for the immobil-ity of the roof which is securely clasped by the pressure of the roof tiles.Just like the curved palm, the inverted-universe roofs can make the roofobtain the tensile force which equals the inherent stress in reinforced con-crete to strengthen the rigidity of the whole roof truss. This kind of roof isalso good for wind resistance because the wind will glide away along thecurved surface to reduce the pressure.
When the famous Chinese esthetician Professor ZONG Baihua de-scribed the beauty of the colourful collocations and the golden decorationsin his
"Aesthetics Causerie", he took the poems written by the two fa-mous literati XIE Lingyun and YAN Yanzhi of the Southern Song Dy-nasty as examples. He said that XIE' S poems were natural and lovely justlike the budding lotus, and YAN' s poems were noble and elegant just likethe unfolded colourful samite. XIE's poems were like the bathing beau-ties and YAN' s poems were like the elegant colourful samite. They typifythe two esthetic sentiments in the history of aesthetics of China. TheChu-verses of the Warring States Period, the poetic essays of the Hart Dy-nasty, the porcelain wares of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the modemembroideries, and the costumes of Beijing Opera belong to the colourfuland elegant beauty. The bronze wares of the Han Dynasty, the calligraphyof WANG Xizhi, the paintings of GU Kaizhi, the ceramic whitewares ofthe Song Dynasty belong to the lovely and natural beauty.