Transcript Chinese Architecture - Stanford School of Earth Sciences

Architecture
M3 Period 3
Cindy Quan
Alvin Chen
Jeff Cho
11/27/03
http://www.beijing-travel-guides.com/images/temple-of-heaven.jpg
The Temple of Heaven is
situated in the southern
part of Beijing, about 6 km
away from the center of
the city. It is the one of
the largest parks in
Beijing, built in 1420. The
Temple of Heaven was the
place where the emperors
of the Ming and Qing
dynasties worshipped
heaven and prayed for
good harvests. The
emperors visited the
temple three times a year.
In imperial days, the
Chinese people believed
that the sky was in
circular shape and the
earth was square. On the
basis of this traditional
concept, the circle was
widely adopted in the
design of the temple's
main building. It is in
accord with people's
imagination of heaven.
This is what they used
to plan The Temple of
Heaven out. (The out-line)
Book Source: Chinese Architecture
by Laurence G. Liu
The Great Wall of China was built
over 2,000 years ago, by Qin Shi
Huangdi (10,000 Li = about 5,000
km). After subjugating and uniting
China, the emperor started to
build the Great Wall to stop the
foreign enemies from invading
China. The Great Wall extends
across the mountains of northern
China. It’s constructed of
masonry, rocks, and packed-earth.
During the Ming Dynasty (13681644), the Great Wall was
enlarged to 6,400 kilometers
(4,000 miles) and renovated over
a 200-year period. The Great Wall
is the largest construction
project ever completed in the
whole wide world.
http://www.viewzone.com/china.wallshot.jpg
Japanese Tea House
The path of a Japanese Tea
Garden is flanked by lovely
white birch trees. These tea
houses are used on special,
usually spiritual occasions with
hosts and guests. In the front,
there are also sliding shoji doors,
but the guests of the tea party
enter through the left side
entrance called the low
nijiriguchi, which makes them
kneel when they come through
the door, showing humbleness.
http://www.csulb.edu/~jgarden/Tours/tours9.html
Chinese Tea House
Shanghai
This marvelous work of
architecture is one of the
most colorful and ancient
in the city of Shanghai.
Out of all of the old
Chinese cities, this is the
oldest out of them all. Most
Chinese tea houses come in
multiple stories and are
placed over a body of
water.
http://www.tropicalisland.de/index.html
Chinese Buddhist Temple
Famen Temple
Many Chinese buddhist temples are
multistoried.
They are also quadrangle, hexangle,
ocatagonal, and twelve sided
ichnographies. Later they also added
decorations
such as flower pagodas, honeycombed
shrines, animals, Buddha, and
disciple sculptures.
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/architecture/styles/buddhist.htm
Japanese Buddhist Temple
The Five storied Pagoda of
Daigoji Buddhist Temple
Most Japanese Buddhist Temples have at least
one pagoda and is usually three or five
storied. There is a kondoh, which is the main
building where Buddhist images are
enshrined, monks and nuns reside, study and
train. Through the ground, there is a room
which has an altar with a Buddhist image
enshrined together with the Buddhist
scriptures. As seen on the picture, a Buddhist
temple is also very decorative.
http://www4.justnet.ne.jp/~aoh/DAIGOJITOU.JPG
Self Reflection
We Speak.