OO 
116 ARCHITECTURE. 
diffusion of the valuable part of Chinese knowledge through the rest of the 
world. For the description of this wall we refer to the division of this 
work devoted to military sciences, where it has been treated of under the 
head of Fortification. It was commenced about 270 years B. c., and shows 
in its gates the construction of regular semicircular vaults made of wedge- 
shaped stones carefully jointed. Much of it is executed in bound 
masonry, and this kind of construction is also found in the walls of cities 
in the interior, and in the palaces of the grandees, whilst the great mass of 
the buildings in the country are chiefly made of sun-dried bricks or of 
bamboo cane. With regard to the shape of the Chinese buildings, they 
have with characteristic stability preserved the tent form of the nomadic 
ages, which is met with in all descriptions of edifices: temples, palaces, and 
common dwellings. 
The combination of framework in China is very simple. The ridge of 
the roof rests generally only on a couple of posts overtopped by a beam 
which supports other posts with a cross-beam, this arrangement being 
repeated until the requisite height is attained. Bamboo canes bent into 
the curve of the tent, recurved below, supply the place of rafters, and are 
connected by their cross-laths, which support the light glazed tiles. The 
latter are grey for common dwellings, green for princely residences, and 
yellow for the edifices of the emperor. The corners and ridges of the 
buildings are adorned partly with large foliated decorations, in part with 
fabulous animals among which the dragon is most prominent. Similar 
ornaments are placed on the ends of the architraves where they pierce 
through the wooden columns (pl. 25, jigs. 6,7). Under the entablature 
and between the columns there are generally trellised friezes (jigs. 14, 15, 
showing at the same time the form of the roofs with the pavilions usually 
placed on the same). The gaudiest colors are used in the decorations of 
all buildings, especially green and gold. Yellow paint occurs only on 
imperial buildings, this color being interdicted to all but the emperor. 
The ground plan of the buildings (jigs. 1, 2) is generally so arranged 
that the street fronts are occupied by shops. Next follow the rooms of the 
family, mostly spacious halls, the Chinese being of a very sociable disposi- 
tion, especially the female sex. The houses have no windows to the street, 
but always several large courts in the interior similar to those of the ancient 
Greek and Roman buildings, with which the Chinese structures have many 
surprising affinities in point of arrangement. The houses are generally 
inhabited by only one family, and are mostly only one story high. If there is 
a second story, it is placed some distance back from the front and has a piazza 
with columns before it, and a richly carved wooden railing like those repre- 
sented in figs. 8—11. The columns placed in the yards, as well as those that 
support the far projecting roofs, have no reduction. Their bases are more 
or less ornamental (figs. 5—7), but they have no capitals, their tops being 
concealed in the roof.. 7g. 3 gives the elevation, and jig. 4 the section of a 
Chinese house which exhibits the curious circular doors used even in the 
interior of the houses. The windows are generally fancifully carved and 
rather small (jig. 13). The walls have frequently trellis work, which 
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