Ancient Chinese Architecture (4)

In the Han Dynasty, five basic forms for roofs evolved: the xuanshan, wudian, juanpeng, cuanjian, and xieshan. Among the various roof styles, the highest grade was the chongyan wudian roof, which was excluxively used for palatial halls and the main hall of temples. This kind of roof, can be seen in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The second grade, chongyan xieshan roof, can be found in the Hall of Preserving Harmony. The roofs of palatial halls, chambers, and the temples of imperial ancestors were all covered with yellow glazed tiles because yellow was the color for emperors. Naturally, glazed tiles were denied to ordinary people.

The architectural painting on the columns, beams and crossbeams of a building also corresponded to the rank of the building. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), architectural painting was categorized into three kinds to be applied in palatial halls and primary temple building; residential buildings and secondary palace chambers; and unimportant chambers respectively. Paintings were not allowed in ordinary people’s houses. The existing Qing Dynasty architectural paintings also fall into three categories: the hexi style; the xuanzi style; and the Suzhou style. Gorgeous colors, dignified design, meticulous craftsmanship and drawings of dragon and phoenix were featured in the former two types, while simpler drawings of beautiful scenes, flowers and lovely animals appeared in the latter type. The hexi style was for palatial buildings of the highest rank; the xuanzi style was for secondary palatial buildings and the main halls in Buddhist temples; the Suzhou style was mainly for imperial residential courtyards and gardens.

On the roofs of Chinese palaces, temples and mansions, there is a monster-like creature called chiwen or zoomorphic ornament, on either side of the main ridge and some on the sloping and branch ridges. Chiwen is believed to be one of the nine sons of the Heaven. According to Chinese mythology, it is able to put out fire.

At the end of the sloping and branch ridges there are often a string of smaller animals, their sizes and numbers being decided by the status of the owner of the building in the feudal hierarchy. Traditionally the correct set of the small animals should be in the following order: hen, dragon, phoenix, lion, unicorn, celestial horse, chiwen. If more were required, any of the figures could be repeated, with the exception of the hen and the chiwen, but always so as to form an odd number up to eleven. The reason for this was that odd numbers stand for Yang or male strength, or heavenly. The largest number and the conventional order of these zoomorphic ornaments are found on the roofs in the Forbidden City. However, in later days both the principle of odd numbers and the conventional arrangement of the animals have been forgotten. For example, in some places people can find a string of small terracotta warriors on the roof ridges.