Download or read book Traditional Chinese Architecture written by Xinian Fu and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking book by one of the world's leading historians of Chinese architecture Translated by Alexandra Harrer. Fu Xinian is considered by many to be the world's leading historian of Chinese architecture. He is an expert on every type of Chinese architecture from every period through the nineteenth century, and his work is at the cutting edge of the field. Traditional Chinese Architecture gathers together, for the first time in English, twelve seminal essays by Fu Xinian. This wide-ranging book pays special attention to the technical aspects of the building tradition since the first millennium BC, and Fu Xinian's signature drawings abundantly illustrate its nuances. The essays delve into the modular basis for individual structures, complexes, and cities; lateral and longitudinal building frames; the unity of sculpture and building to create viewing angles; the influence of Chinese construction on Japanese architecture; and the reliability of images to inform us about architecture. Organized chronologically, the book also examines such topics as the representation of architecture on vessels in the Warring States period, early Buddhist architecture, and the evolution of imperial architecture from the Tang to Ming dynasty. A biography of Fu Xinian and a detailed Chinese-English glossary are included. Bringing together some of the most groundbreaking scholarship in Chinese architectural history, Traditional Chinese Architecture showcases an uncontested master of the discipline.

Download or read book Chinese Architecture and the Beaux Arts written by Jeffrey W. Cody and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2011-01-31 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early twentieth century, Chinese traditional architecture and the French-derived methods of the École des Beaux-Arts converged in the United States when Chinese students were given scholarships to train as architects at American universities whose design curricula were dominated by Beaux-Arts methods. Upon their return home in the 1920s and 1930s, these graduates began to practice architecture and create China’s first architectural schools, often transferring a version of what they had learned in the U.S. to Chinese situations. The resulting complex series of design-related transplantations had major implications for China between 1911 and 1949, as it simultaneously underwent cataclysmic social, economic, and political changes. After 1949 and the founding of the People’s Republic, China experienced a radically different wave of influence from the Beaux-Arts through advisors from the Soviet Union who, first under Stalin and later Khrushchev, brought Beaux-Arts ideals in the guise of socialist progress. In the early twenty-first century, China is still feeling the effects of these events. Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts examines the coalescing of the two major architectural systems, placing significant shifts in architectural theory and practice in China within relevant, contemporary, cultural, and educational contexts. Fifteen major scholars from around the world analyze and synthesize these crucial events to shed light on the dramatic architectural and urban changes occurring in China today—many of which have global ramifications. This stimulating and generously illustrated work is divided into three sections, framed by an introduction and a postscript. The first focuses on the convergence of Chinese architecture and the École des Beaux-Arts, outlining the salient aspects of each and suggesting how and why the two "met" in the U.S. The second section centers on the question of how Chinese architects were influenced by the Beaux-Arts and how Chinese architecture was changed as a result. The third takes an even closer look at the Beaux-Arts influence, addressing how innovative practices, new schools of architecture, and buildings whose designs were linked to Beaux-Arts assumptions led to distinctive new paradigms that were rooted in a changing China. By virtue of its scope, scale, and scholarship, this volume promises to become a classic in the fields of Chinese and Western architectural history. Contributors: Tony Atkin, Peter J. Carroll, Yung Ho Chang,Jeffrey W. Cody, Kerry Sizheng Fan, Fu Chao-Ching, Gu Daqing, Seng Kuan,Delin Lai, Xing Ruan, Joseph Rykwert, Nancy S. Steinhardt, David VanZanten, Rudolf Wagner, Zhang Jie, Zhao Chen.

Download or read book A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture written by Ssu-ch eng Liang and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Chinese Architecture written by Yanxin Cai and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-03 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an illustrated introduction to Chinese architecture, a reference for modern design and a window into China's history.

Download or read book Chinese Architecture and Metaphor written by Jiren Feng and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2012-05-31 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigating the historical tradition of Chinese architectural writing from antiquity to the twelfth century, Chinese Architecture and Metaphor reveals significant and fascinating social and cultural phenomena in the most important primary text for the study of the Chinese building tradition. Unlike previous scholarship, which has reviewed this imperially commissioned architectural manual largely as a technical work, this volume considers the Yingzao fashi’s unique literary value and explores the rich cultural implications in and behind its technical content. Utilizing a philological approach, the author pays particular attention to the traditional and contemporary architectural terminology presented in the Yingzao fashi. In examining the semantic meaning of the architectural terms used in the manual, he uncovers a systematic architectural metaphor wherein bracketing elements are likened to flowers, flowering branches, and foliage: Thus pillars with bracketing above are compared to blossoming trees. More importantly, this intriguing imagery was shared by different social groups, in particular craftsmen and literati, and craftsmen themselves employed literary knowledge in naming architectural elements. Relating these phenomena to the unprecedented flourishing of literature, the literati’s greater admiration of technical knowledge, and the higher intellectual capacity of craftsmen during the Song, Architecture and Metaphor demonstrates how the learned and “unlearned” cultures entangled in the construction of architectural knowledge in premodern China. It convincingly shows that technical language served as a faithful carrier of contemporary popular culture and aesthetic concepts. Chinese Architecture and Metaphor demonstrates a high level of engagement with a broad spectrum of sophisticated Chinese sources. It will become a classic work for all students and scholars of East Asian architecture.

Download or read book Chinese Architecture written by Sicheng Liang and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Download or read book The Borders of Chinese Architecture written by Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An internationally acclaimed expert explains why Chinese-style architecture has remained so consistent for two thousand years, no matter where it is built. For the last two millennia, an overwhelming number of Chinese buildings have been elevated on platforms, supported by pillars, and covered by ceramic-tile roofs. Less obvious features, like the brackets connecting the pillars to roof frames, also have been remarkably constant. What makes the shared features more significant, however, is that they are present in Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, and Islamic milieus; residential, funerary, and garden structures; in Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and elsewhere. How did Chinese-style architecture maintain such standardization for so long, even beyond ChinaÕs borders? Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt examines the essential features of Chinese architecture and its global transmission and translation from the predynastic age to the eighteenth century. Across myriad political, social, and cultural contexts within China and throughout East Asia, certain design and construction principles endured. Builders never abandoned perishable wood in favor of more permanent building materials, even though Chinese engineers knew how to make brick and stone structures in the last millennium BCE. Chinese architecture the world over is also distinctive in that it was invariably accomplished by anonymous craftsmen. And Chinese buildings held consistently to the plan of the four-sided enclosure, which both afforded privacy and differentiated sacred interior space from an exterior understood as the sphere of profane activity. Finally, Chinese-style buildings have always and everywhere been organized along straight lines. Taking note of these and other fascinating uniformities, The Borders of Chinese Architecture offers an accessible and authoritative overview of a tradition studiously preserved across time and space.

Download or read book Chinese Architecture written by Paul Decker and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Chinese Architecture written by Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 925 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unprecedented survey of the origins and evolution of Chinese architecture, from the last millennia BCE to today Throughout history, China has maintained one of the world’s richest built civilizations. The nation’s architectural achievements range from its earliest walled cities and the First Emperor’s vision of city and empire, to bridges, pagodas, and the twentieth-century constructions of the Socialist state. In this beautifully illustrated book, Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt presents the first fully comprehensive survey of Chinese architecture in any language. With rich political and historical context, Steinhardt covers forty centuries of architecture, from the genesis of Chinese building through to the twenty-first century and the challenges of urban expansion and globalism. Steinhardt follows the extraordinary breadth of China’s architectural legacy—including excavation sites, gardens, guild halls, and relief sculpture—and considers the influence of Chinese architecture on Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and Tibet. Architectural examples from Chinese ethnic populations and various religions are examined, such as monasteries, mosques, observatories, and tombs. Steinhardt also shows that Chinese architecture is united by a standardized system of construction, applicable whether buildings are temples, imperial palaces, or shrines. Every architectural type is based on the models that came before it, and principles established centuries earlier dictate building practices. China’s unique system has allowed its built environment to stand as a profound symbol of Chinese culture. With unprecedented breadth united by a continuous chronological narrative, Chinese Architecture offers the best scholarship available on this remarkable subject for scholars, students, and general readers.

Download or read book A Philosophy of Chinese Architecture written by David Wang and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Philosophy of Chinese Architecture: Past, Present, Future examines the impact of Chinese philosophy on China’s historic structures, as well as on modern Chinese urban aesthetics and architectural forms. For architecture in China moving forward, author David Wang posits a theory, the New Virtualism, which links current trends in computational design with long-standing Chinese philosophical themes. The book also assesses twentieth-century Chinese architecture through the lenses of positivism, consciousness (phenomenology), and linguistics (structuralism and poststructuralism). Illustrated with over 70 black-and-white images, this book establishes philosophical baselines for assessing architectural developments in China, past, present and future.

Download or read book Chinese Houses written by Ronald G. Knapp and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of ForeWord Magazine's Architecture "Book of the Year" Award! Exquisite examples of traditional dwellings are scattered throughout modern-day China. Chinese Houses focuses on 20 well-preserved traditional Chinese homes, presenting examples from a range of rural and metropolitan areas throughout China. The photographs of each are accompanied by extensive background information and historical content. An introductory essay examines the different types of Chinese homes and provides an overview of the rich regional variety of Chinese dwelling forms. It also provides insights into little-known design concepts that emphasize the flexibility, adaptability, and versatility of traditional building forms and the work of traditional craftsmen. Richly illustrated with photographs, woodblock prints, historic images, and line drawings, Chinese Houses portrays an architectural tradition of amazing range and resilience.

Download or read book China s Traditional Rural Architecture written by Ronald G. Knapp and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book What the Emperor Built written by Aurelia Campbell and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most famous rulers in Chinese history, the Yongle emperor (r. 1402–24) gained renown for constructing Beijing’s magnificent Forbidden City, directing ambitious naval expeditions, and creating the world’s largest encyclopedia. What the Emperor Built is the first book-length study devoted to the architectural projects of a single Chinese emperor. Focusing on the imperial palaces in Beijing, a Daoist architectural complex on Mount Wudang, and a Buddhist temple on the Sino-Tibetan frontier, Aurelia Campbell demonstrates how the siting, design, and use of Yongle’s palaces and temples helped cement his authority and legitimize his usurpation of power. Campbell offers insight into Yongle’s sense of empire—from the far-flung locations in which he built, to the distant regions from which he extracted construction materials, and to the use of tens of thousands of craftsmen and other laborers. Through his constructions, Yongle connected himself to the divine, interacted with his subjects, and extended imperial influence across space and time. Spanning issues of architectural design and construction technologies, this deft analysis reveals remarkable advancements in timber-frame construction and implements an art-historical approach to examine patronage, audience, and reception, situating the buildings within their larger historical and religious contexts.

Download or read book The Architectural Art of Ancient China written by Qingxi Lou and published by 五洲传播出版社. This book was released on 2002 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Geo Architecture and Landscape in China s Geographic and Historic Context written by Fang Wang and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes forms of architectures within the frame concept of geo-architecture, and looks into the interaction of architecture and its environment. It starts by discussing the collisions between architecture and geography, humanity, as well as other architectures and reflects on the ancient Chinese notion of emotional relief and expression through natural landscape. It then studies important transportation and scenic routes, like pavilions, towers, clan halls and villages within architectural systems. It also discusses the forms of geographic integration and isolation expressed through architecture, which reflects their historical and cultural context.This book is the first of a 4-volume book series. The series develops the innovative concept of “geo-architecture” by exploring the myriad influences of natural, human and historical factors upon architecture. These influences are considered in three categories, namely, interaction between architecture and nature, interaction between architecture and its human users and change in architecture over time--each category serves as a lens. Augmenting these lenses is the Time-Person-Place concept applied different geographic. The analysis ultimately focuses on two aspects: geographic influence on architecture and architectural response to geography. The over 1000 pictures of case architectures enriches the study with stunning and unique visual angles. "This unprecedented work will be a unique and valuable contribution to the literature. Integrating as it does the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and geography, Wang Fang’s voice is original, compelling, and will be much appreciated by English-speaking readers (and inside China, too, I can only imagine.)" Stephen M Ervin Assistant Dean Graduate School of Design, Harvard University July 2nd, 2013 "One reason for why there would be interest is because her research would fill some significant gaps in the literature.What is novel about Dr. Wang’s series is that she further extends this intellectual project of looking at Chinese architecture through Chinese eyes, by taking it one provocative step further."Annette M. Kim Associate Professor Department of Urban Studies and Planning, M.I.T. July 1st, 2013

Download or read book Chinese Architecture written by Wang Qijun and published by Shanghai Press. This book was released on 2011-03-10 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With hundreds of illustrations and insightful text, Chinese Architecture: Discovering China explores the unique architecture of this vast country. The architecture of ancient China embodies the country's expansive cultural heritage, and represents one of the world's great architectural traditions. It also reflects the different topographies and peoples spread across the country's vast territory. Architectural historian Wang Qijun takes readers on a visual journey, investigating the most striking and significant aspects of Chinese architectural history. Accompanied by over 100 photographs and exquisite illustrations, more than 40 of the most important structures from different dynasties are highlighted in this book, such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Yungang Cave, Daming Palace and Dule Temple. A fascinating overview of ancient Chinese architecture and how it influenced history and culture, this book is a must for those interested in learning more about China.

Download or read book Architecture of Modern China written by Jianfei Zhu and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays on architecture of modern China, arranged chronologically covering a period from 1729 to 2008, focusing mainly on the twentieth century. The distinctive feature of this book is a blending of ‘critical’ and ‘historical’ research, taking a long-range perspective transcending the current scene and the Maoist period. This is a short, elegant book that condenses the wide subject matter into key topics.