CHINESE ARCITTTECTURE." 



RV SiKPHEN W. BUSHELL, C. U. C... B. Sc, M. D. 



Tho first impression given by the view of a Chinese city from the 

 parapet of the city wall— whether it be Tientsin, with the 150,000 

 houses of its po])ulation of shopmen and artisans, or Pekino;, with 

 its temples, its imperial and princely i)alaces, and its public build- 

 ings — is that of a certain monotony, resulting from the predomi- 

 nance of a single type of architecture. After a long residence this 

 impression still remains, and it is very rarely that a I)uilding stands 

 out ^Ahich is not reducible to one general formula. 



China, in fact, in every epoch of its history and for all its edifices, 

 civil or religious, public or pri\ate, has kept to a single architectural 

 model. Even when new types have been introduced from the West 

 under the influence of Buddhism and Mohammedanism, the lines 

 have become gradually toned down and conformed to his own 

 standard l)y the leveling hands of the Chinese mason. It is a car- 

 dinal rule in Chinese geomancy that every important building must 

 face the soutli. and the uniform orientation resulting from this adds 

 to the general impression of monotony. 



The most general model of Chinese buildings is the t'ing. This 

 consists essentially of a massive roof with recurved edges resting 

 upon short columns. The curvilinear tilting of the corners of the 

 roof has been supposed to be a survival from the days of tent 

 dwellers, who used' to hang the angles of their canvas pavilions on 

 spears; but this is carrying it back to a very dim antiquity, as we 

 have no records of the Chinese except as a settled agricultural peo- 

 l)le. The roof is the principal feature of the building and gives to 

 it when finished its qualities of grandeur or simplicity, of strength 

 or grace. To vary its aspect the architect is induced occasionally 

 to double, or even to triple, it. This preponderance of a part usually 

 sacrificed in western architecture is justified by the smaller vertical 



"Chapter III, Chinese Art. hy Stephen W. Bushell ; published by the board 

 of odiu-ation. South Kensinjiton, Victoria and Alliort Musouni. London, 1004. 

 Keitrinted by permission of tho coutrolU'r (if His .Majesty's stationary office. 



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