What are the traditional Chinese houses?

Residential residences include residences and the living environment extended by them.

Because China has a vast territory and many ethnic groups, the geographical and climatic conditions and lifestyles in different places are different. Therefore, the styles and styles of the houses that people live in are also different in different places.

Among Chinese folk houses, the most distinctive ones are Beijing courtyard houses, cave dwellings in the northwest Loess Plateau, ancient folk houses in Anhui, Hakka earth buildings in Fujian and Guangdong and other places, and yurts in Mongolia.

Beijing Siheyuan

Beijing Siheyuan is located in the large and small alleys of Beijing. There are many courtyard-style residences surrounded by houses on the east, south, west and north. It's the courtyard house.

The main door of a courtyard usually opens at the southeast or northwest corner. The north room in the courtyard is the main house. The main house is built on a masonry platform. It is larger than other houses and is the owner of the courtyard. 's residence. There are east and west wing rooms on both sides of the yard, where the younger generations live. There is a corridor between the main room and the side room for people to walk and rest. The walls of the courtyard and the houses facing the street generally do not open windows to the outside, so the environment in the courtyard is closed and quiet.

There are courtyards of various sizes in Beijing, but regardless of their size, they are all composed of courtyards surrounded by houses on four sides. The simplest courtyard houses have only one courtyard, while the more complex ones have two or three courtyards. The deep residences where wealthy families live usually consist of several courtyard houses juxtaposed. There is also a dividing wall in the middle.

Siheyuan is a combined architectural form in civil residences in North China. It is a square or rectangular courtyard. Each family lives in a closed courtyard, leading a comfortable, leisurely and quiet life, enjoying family joy and family fun, and naturally has a leisurely and contented atmosphere.

This kind of courtyard house was left over before the founding of New China and is still in use today. This kind of courtyard generally uses one entrance and exit gate. Normally, once the courtyard door is closed, it is in a completely closed state. Most of the courtyard gates of courtyard houses are wooden gates. One end of the door made of thick wooden boards is placed on the axis, and it can be opened and closed by rotating left and right, which is safe and reliable. In the courtyard, there is the main room, which is the north room. This is the main room in the courtyard, and generally the direction of a courtyard is from north to south. On the east and west sides are the east and west wing rooms. The east and west wing rooms are generally relatively symmetrical, and the architectural formats are generally the same or similar. There is a south room built on the south side, corresponding to the north room. The entire courtyard is mostly built in symmetry according to traditional Chinese customs. Of course, there are also ear rooms in the corners formed by the north, south, and east and west rooms. Some of these ear rooms are used to store grain and become grain depots and other warehouses. , some are used as kitchens, and there is also a corner, usually the southwest corner is the toilet, and the southeast corner is mostly the gate of the courtyard. This four-in-one courtyard format is more common in Shanxi counties and nearby rural areas. There are also some courtyards where the main door opens in the south direction.

In order to decorate the courtyard, some families also build a screen wall directly opposite the entrance to the courtyard. A brick wall. On the side facing the door, there are usually flowers, pine and bamboo patterns or large calligraphy characters placed prominently on the front of the screen wall. There are also auspicious words such as "Fu", "Lu" and "Shou". Part of the screen wall is painted with auspicious patterns, such as "Songs and Cranes Prolong the Year", "Magpies Climbing Plum Blossoms", "Qilin Sending Children", etc., creating a scholarly atmosphere in the courtyard. Some farmers also use "grain". The words or pictures of "good luck", "good luck" and "blessings like the East China Sea". This kind of screen wall is located at the entrance inside the gate. Some are built separately, and some are mounted on the gables of the wing rooms. The screen wall is also called a screen wall. , the walls are all square, surrounded by brick carvings, and the middle square is for calligraphy or painting. The screen wall is divided into two parts: the base and the wall. In addition to adding atmosphere to the courtyard and praying for good luck, the screen wall also plays a role. The isolation effect makes it difficult for outsiders to peek into the activities inside the courtyard.

Some courtyards have paved floors, some have bricks, and some have cobblestones. Some have completely paved floors. There are also cases where the main passage is paved. No matter how it is paved, there must always be some space left in the courtyard to plant trees and flowers as decorations for the courtyard.

With the development of the times, there are now some architectural features. Many changes. In rural areas, most of them have undergone major changes from the original courtyard houses.

This is to expand the number of rooms in the main house, because the main house - the north room has good lighting. Therefore, when building a house, we should make full use of the space and ground in the north as much as possible, which makes the courtyard irregular in shape, forming a square or rectangular courtyard in front of the main house, mainly the north house.

The allocation of residences in the courtyard house is very strict. The main house in the inner house with a superior location must be given to the older generation of masters and wives.

[Edit this paragraph] Cave Dwellings in the Loess Plateau of Northwest China

The middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River in China are the world-famous Loess Plateau. Because people living on the Loess Plateau had no houses, they used the deep and thick loess layer with excellent three-dimensional properties to build a unique kind of residence - cave dwellings. Cave dwellings are divided into earth kilns, stone kilns, brick kilns, etc. Tuyao is a loess cave dwelling dug against the hillside. This kind of cave dwelling is warm in winter and cool in summer, and has the best thermal insulation and sound insulation effect. In stone kilns and brick kilns, arched holes are first built with stones or bricks, and then covered with thick loess, which is strong and beautiful. Since no steel or cement is required to build a cave dwelling, the cost is relatively low. With the development of society, people continue to improve the construction of cave dwellings. The cave dwellings on the Loess Plateau, which are warm in winter and cool in summer, are becoming more and more comfortable and beautiful.

Farmyard---Residential Cave Dwellings

[Edit this paragraph] Ancient Folk Houses in Anhui

Anhui Ancient Folk Houses In the southern part of Anhui Province, many ancient folk houses are preserved. Residential. Most of these ancient houses use bricks and wood as building materials, and are surrounded by tall walls. The houses within the wall are usually two-story buildings with three or five bays. Larger residences have two, three or more courtyards; there is a pool in the courtyard, flowers and bonsais are planted in front of the hall and behind the house, and exquisite patterns are carved on the beams, columns and railings everywhere. The small buildings and deep courtyards are like worlds of art. Architectural experts all praise it as "a treasure house of ancient residential architectural art". Anhui Ancient Folk Houses

Most of the ordinary residential houses in Pingyao were built in the Qing Dynasty. These houses are large in size and made of exquisite materials. Due to the dry climate in Shanxi and the lack of war damage, most of them are quite well preserved. .

The layout of residential buildings is mostly in the form of a rigorous quadrangle, with an obvious axis, left and right symmetry, and clear priorities. It is composed of several sets of courtyards along the central axis. Generally, the three courtyards are basically in the shape of "mou". form. Courtyards are often separated by low walls and ornately decorated hanging flower doors, and some even have gardens on one side or behind the courtyards.

The main house is usually a three- or five-room cave dwelling with an arched brick structure. In the front of the cave dwelling, wooden eaves and colonnades are usually added, covered with a tile roof. The roof of the main house is flat, and brick ladders are usually built on both sides to climb up. Some also have screen-wall-style Feng Shui towers on the roof. Some also build a wooden structure with a double-slope roof on top of the cave dwelling. The exterior walls of Pingyao houses are all made of bricks, which are made of plain brick walls. They are seven or eight meters high. They have no windows to the outside and have a solid and majestic appearance. Some are made into battlements on the top of the walls, like small castles. In the courtyard There are very few trees planted here. The superstitious concept is that trees will attract ghosts and make the house uneasy. The ground in the yard is paved with bricks, and there are many flower beds set up. There is no soil, making it easy to clean. Pingyao residences are richly decorated both inside and outside, with fine wood carvings on the doors, and flower decorations hanging from the beams in the main room. Some are carved with lions rolling embroidery balls, some with the three stars of fortune, longevity and longevity, or playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting, etc., all of which have certain styles. The doors and windows are all made of wooden lattice, and most of them have intricate patterns and are different from each other. Some door leaves also have sculptures with stories about the Zen positions of Yao, Yu and Shun of Tang Dynasty. At that time, glass was widely used, and some wealthy merchants used cut glass. To keep warm and cold-proof, most of the doors and windows are double-layered, and the rafters, beams, and beams under the eaves are decorated with colorful paintings. House doors along the streets and alleys are particularly particular. The door tops have various forms, such as hanging mountain roll canopy, hanging mountain with two ridges, two slopes of unequal length, half slope, overhanging eaves, etc. The eaves are interspersed with beams and squares, brackets are used to protrude the eaves, etc. , the methods are different. Some use columns, and some make pilasters, door piers, etc. There is a plaque on the door leaf of the main door, with the words "Xiude", "Xiuqi", "Fanyao", "Xiawei", "Letianlun", etc. outside the door of some residences, there are also horse-mounting stones, horse-bolting pillars and stone carvings. It is exquisite and reflects the wealth of the residents of these homes at that time. There are more than 400 relatively well-preserved residential houses in the city. Their large number and degree of complete preservation are rare in China.

Hakka Tulou in Fujian and Guangdong and other places. Hakka Tulou in Fujian and Guangdong and other places. Tulou are the residences of the Hakka people in northeastern Guangdong and southwest Fujian. The ancestors of the Hakka people are the Han people who migrated to the south from the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River more than 1,900 years ago.

Because most of the Hakka people live in remote and remote mountainous areas, the Hakka ancestors created this kind of huge residential buildings - earth buildings in order to prevent bandits from harassing them and protect their family's safety. A single earth building can accommodate dozens of families and hundreds of people from the entire family. There are round and square earth buildings. Among them, the most distinctive one is the round earth building. The round building consists of two or three circles. The outer circle is more than ten meters high and has one to two hundred rooms. They do not distinguish between rich and poor, high or low. Each household is equally allocated a room from the ground floor to the upper floor. Their uses are very unified. The first floor is the kitchen and dining room, the second floor is the warehouse, and the third and fourth floors are bedrooms. The second circle has two floors, with 30 to 50 rooms, usually guest rooms; in the middle is the ancestral hall, which can accommodate hundreds of people for official activities. There are also wells, bathrooms, toilets, etc. in the earth building, just like a small city. The tall and unique Hakka earth buildings have been praised by architects from all over the world.

Hakka houses are architectural wonders in the mountainous areas of southern China. Its unique style has attracted many Chinese and foreign scholars, tourists and even American military experts.

The high mountains in southwestern Fujian and northeastern Guangdong are dotted with thousands of round houses or earthen buildings. These are Hakka houses known as "the most unique folk houses in the world".

Most of them are three to six floors, with more than 100 to 200 houses arranged like orange petals, with a uniform layout and grandeur. Hakka Earth Building

Bagua layout diagram. The circular houses surrounded by earth buildings are arranged according to the Bagua layout. There are firewalls between the hexagrams and they are neat and uniform.

Because of the fear of thieves and local people’s exclusion, they built camp-style houses.

[Edit this paragraph] Mongolian yurts

The traditional style of Mongolian and other nomadic peoples housing. In ancient times, it was called Qionglu, also known as felt tent, tent, felt bag, etc. It is called Geer in Mongolian and Mongolian yurt or Mongolian Bo in Manchu. This kind of residence created by nomadic people to adapt to their nomadic life is easy to disassemble and assemble, making it convenient for nomads. It has been around since the time of the Xiongnu and is still used today. The yurt is round in shape, and the surrounding side walls are divided into several pieces. Each piece is 130 to 160 cm high and about 230 cm long. It is made of strips of wood and made into a mesh. Several pieces are connected to form a circle, with a long umbrella-shaped dome. Connected to side wall. The top and four walls of the tent are covered or surrounded by felt and fixed with ropes. A wooden frame is left on the southwest wall to install the door panel, and a circular skylight is left on the top of the tent to facilitate lighting, ventilation, and exhaust smoke. It is covered with felt at night or in wind, rain, and snow. The smallest yurt is more than 300 centimeters in diameter, and the larger one can accommodate hundreds of people. During the Mongol Khanate era, the tents of the Khans and kings could accommodate 2,000 people. There are two types of yurts: fixed and mobile. In semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas, most fixed-type structures are built, with earth walls built around them and covered with reeds; in nomadic areas, most are mobile-type structures. The swimming type is divided into two types: detachable and non-detachable. The former is transported by livestock, and the latter is transported by ox carts or horse-drawn carriages. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the number of Mongolian settlers increased, and only yurts remained in nomadic areas. In addition to Mongolians, Kazakh, Tajik and other ethnic herders also live in yurts when they are nomadic. It is easy to disassemble and assemble, which is convenient for relocation during grazing.

[Edit this paragraph] Dai Bamboo Houses

The living area of ??the Dai people is located in the subtropical zone with high temperatures. Therefore, the Dai bamboo houses are all located near the water in Pingba and among the creeks. On both sides of the river and around lakes and swamps, wherever there are green bamboos and shady trees, there must be Dai villages. There are two to three hundred families living in large villages, while there are only a dozen or so families in small villages. The houses are all single buildings with open space around them, and each family has its own courtyard. The residences along Tenglong are mostly bungalows with earthen walls. Each house is divided into three rooms, with separate bedrooms and living rooms. This is obviously influenced by the Han people and is no longer an inherent form of the Dai people. The houses along Sipu are entirely made of bamboo buildings with wooden frames. The structure is similar to a large tent, with people and animals living under it. This is completely consistent with the situation of "Nanyue nesting" recorded in "Huainanzi". It is also the "stem" of ancient Liao people "living by trees and building blocks" recorded in history books. "Lan" residence is a typical building of the Dai people. The lower floor of this type of bamboo building is about seven or eight feet high, with no fences on all four sides, and cattle and horses are tied to the pillars. There is a terrace near the stairs on the upper floor. When you turn in, you will find a large long room. A bamboo fence is used to separate a corner to serve as the owner's bedroom and a storage place for important money and belongings. The rest is a large open room with a small roof. It is high, sloping on both sides, and the eaves reach the floor, so there are no windows. If the eaves are slightly higher, there will also be small windows on both sides and a door at the back. In the center of the building is a fire pit, which burns day and night no matter whether it is winter or summer. Cooking and tea are all done on this fire, and the host and guests gather to talk. They all squatted or sat around the stove. The roof is covered with thatch, and the beams, doors, windows and floors are all made of bamboo.

The construction of this kind of house is extremely simple. It only needs to cut down large bamboos and gather the help of neighbors to build it in a few days. However, it is also very easy to decay and needs to be repaired every year after the rainy season. Most of the houses of chieftains were built with wood instead of bamboo. The style was still like a bamboo house, only slightly taller. Instead of thatching, they used tile roofs instead. In Xishuangbanna, the Dai people can burn tiles themselves. The tiles are like fish scales, three inches square and only two-thirds thin. There is a hook on one side of each tile. Bamboo strips are nailed horizontally to the roof rafters first, with two inches between each strip, and the tiles are hung. The bamboo strips are shaped like fish scales and are no longer fixed with ash, so the Dai roof cannot be climbed. If the tiles are broken and need to be replaced, you only need to reach under the rafters to remove the broken tiles, and then hook up the new tiles. Anyone who lives in this kind of house is considered a wealthy family in the village. Even the Chexuanwei Yamen has the same architectural style, but the area is much larger than the ordinary wooden buildings among Dai people. The whole building uses 120 large trees. It is built on pillars, more than ten meters long and seven or eight feet wide. The upper floor is divided into several rooms, large and small. There are railings around, but there are no windows, so it is dark and lightless. There are no railings downstairs, only a neat row of buildings can be seen. One hundred and twenty large wooden pillars are arranged, allowing cattle, horses, pigs and chickens to move freely among them. This is the official office and residence of the supreme ruler of the Dai people. This kind of house with people living on top and cattle and horses on the bottom can be commonly seen in the southwestern border areas, such as Hani, Jingpo, Susu and even Miao, Yao and Li ethnic groups. The houses are also built in this style, but the lower floors are mostly made of big stones or mud. for the wall. The lower floor of the Dai bamboo house is open on all sides. When the cows and horses come out of the stall every morning, the excrement is removed so that the sun can shine all day long and the people living on the upper floor will not be fumigated by filthy gases.

Tujia people live in groups and live in stilted wooden buildings. Houses are built in villages and villages, and there are very few single-family houses. Most of the houses built are wooden structures, with small green tiles, lattice windows, suspended eaves, wooden railings and handrails, and horse-drawn corners, giving them an antique look. Most homes have a small courtyard, with a fence in front of the courtyard, a bamboo forest behind the courtyard, bluestone paving, planed wood walls, and bright pine trees. The family leads a peaceful pastoral life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. Tujia people, with a current population of 5,704,223 people in the country, mainly live in Xiangxi, Hunan and Enshi, Hubei. In addition, it is also distributed in Shizhu, Xiushan, Youyang, Qianjiang and other counties in Sichuan Province.

The Tujia area is surrounded by mountains and rich in products. It has majestic natural scenery and rich ethnic customs, attracting Chinese and foreign tourists. Among them, Zhangjiajie is my country's first national forest park and has become an emerging tourist attraction.

The Tujia people call themselves "Bizka", which means "native people". More than 2,000 years ago, they settled in today's western Hunan and western Hubei areas. Together with other ethnic minorities, they were called "Wuling Man" or "Wuxi Man". After the Song Dynasty, the Tujia people were individually called "Tuding", "Tumin", etc. After the founding of New China, it was officially named Tujia according to the wishes of the Tujia people.

The Tujia people have their own language, which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Since most people have lived together with the Han people for a long time, they began to use Chinese and Chinese characters very early. Only a few areas in Longshan, Yongshun, Guzhang and other counties in western Hunan still speak Tujia. The Tujia people are mainly engaged in agricultural production. Their economic and cultural development is greatly influenced by the Han people, but they also retain their own characteristics. The "golden tung oil" in western Hunan and the "ba lacquer" in western Hubei are famous products both at home and abroad.

[Edit this paragraph] Folk houses in southern Anhui

Among the folk houses in southern Anhui, Xidi and Hongcun in Yi County are the most representative. In 2000, they were included in the "World Heritage List".

Hongcun now has more than 140 well-preserved ancient dwellings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The rows of stacked courtyards in the village complement each other with the beautiful lakes and mountains. The movement and stillness are harmonious, and the scenery is everywhere, making you step into the picture. Hongcun, with its wonderful pastoral scenery, is known as the "Village in Chinese Paintings". There are 124 ancient residences from the Ming and Qing Dynasties and 3 ancestral halls existing in Xidi. The "three wonders" (residences, ancestral halls, and archways) and the "three carvings" (wood carvings, stone carvings, and brick carvings) that represent the Huizhou style of residential architecture are well preserved here.

Blue tiles and white walls are the outstanding impressions of Huizhou architecture. The well-proportioned horse head wall not only has the beauty of shape, but more importantly, it has the practical function of fire prevention and blocking the spread of fire.

One of the characteristics of Huizhou folk houses is the high walls and deep courtyards. On the one hand, it is to protect against thieves, and on the other hand, it is the need for psychological safety for migratory families who have suffered from displacement.

Another characteristic of Huizhou folk houses is the inward courtyard formed with a deep patio as the center, surrounded by high walls. There are almost no tiles visible outside, and only the long and narrow patio provides lighting, ventilation and connection with the outside world. communicate. This basic form with the patio as the center and enclosed by high walls is the focus of people's attention. On rainy days, the rainwater flowing from the roofs on all sides flows into the patio, which is commonly known as "the four waters return to the hall". It also vividly reflects the mentality of Huizhou merchants that "the rich water does not flow out of the fields", which is similar to Shanxi folk houses.

The folk houses in southern Anhui are famous for preserving a large number of ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Xin'an is a cultural town with many officials and merchants in history. In She County alone, there are hundreds of non-commissioned officers above the rank of civil servant. Huizhou merchants spread throughout southern Anhui. "Among the wealthy families, Xin'an is the first in Jiangnan." Their huge wealth has created this exquisite ancient residential museum in southern Anhui. The ancient buildings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties that exist in Huizhou today are mainly concentrated in Yi County, She County, Jixi and Xiuning. There are more than ten ancient villages in Yi County today, the important ones such as Xidi, Hongcun, Bishan, Pingshan, etc. There are more ancient buildings in Yicheng. Hundreds of valuable ancient buildings are preserved throughout the county. There are 122 buildings in Xidi alone. There are 365 ancient buildings in Shexian County, more than 100 valuable ones, and 27 ancient ancestral halls, concentrated in Xiongcun, Chengkan, Qiankou, Tangyue, Shendu and other villages. There are more than 100 ancient buildings in Jixi today, concentrated in Homtou, Hangkou, Fengcun, Shangzhuang and other places. Ancient villages generally consist of archways, houses, ancestral halls, water mouths, road pavilions, workshops, etc. Some villages are very large, such as Chengkan, which has 99 streets and lanes. Strangers often get lost after entering. Many villages have a well-organized layout, and the water system in Hongcun is an example. Hongcun built a dam near the mountain at the head of the village. The water canals in the village enter each household from both sides of the street and merge into the Yuetang in the middle of the village. Then it is diverted to households and flows into Nanhu Lake. Each household has large and small water channels for washing and drinking water. The layout of residential houses is generally a three-heyuan or four-heyyuan with a patio as the center and two floors. Medium and large-sized houses are composed of multiple courtyards, and the buildings are all painted with white walls and black tiles. Many of the buildings of wealthy families in the old days were large in scale and decorated with three Huizhou carvings, with exquisite and well-proportioned layouts. Pieces of ancient buildings in southern Anhui are embedded in the vast famous mountains and beautiful waters of Huangshan Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, and Xin'an River. They are a perfect match between heaven and earth, just like a world-class park that needs no decoration.

The folk houses in Wannan are buildings with more than two floors, with a small patio enclosed in the middle, and the hall is located on the north side of the patio. There are no walls, doors or windows between the hall and the patio, so it is an open space. On the north side of the hall, that is, at the rear, there is a wooden Taishi wall. On both sides of the Taishi wall are doors without door leaves. Furniture such as the long table and the Eight Immortals table are placed in front of the Taishi wall. On the east and west sides of the hall, there are several groups of back chairs and coffee tables respectively. People often place some utensils on them as decoration.

The site selection, layout and architectural form of ancient residential villages in southern Anhui are all guided by the Feng Shui theory of Zhouyi, embodying the traditional Chinese philosophy of the unity of man and nature and the yearning and respect for nature. Those elegant residential buildings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are closely integrated with nature, creating a living environment that is both scientific and interesting, which is the essence of traditional Chinese residential buildings. The village's unique water system is a model of water conservancy engineering that combines practicality and aesthetics, and deeply embodies mankind's outstanding wisdom in utilizing nature and transforming it. Its "layout workmanship, structural ingenuity, decorative beauty, exquisite construction, and profound cultural connotation" are rare among ancient residential buildings in China.

[Edit this paragraph] Tujia folk houses

1. Ancient documents call Tujia folk houses "ganlan"

"Chenzhou Prefecture·Customs" says: "Residents near the market usually have one-story buildings, with living quarters on the upper floor and goods storage and trading centers below. There are no flats, and they are rarely deep or heavy. In recent years, the population has flourished, residential buildings have become denser, and the land value has multiplied. Ten years ago, the mountain family built a house next to the cliff, covered with thatch to protect it from wind and rain, and set up a fire bed to cook in the daytime and use the fire to keep warm at night. That's it."

"New Book of Tang" says: "Nanpingliao is located in the east of Zhizhou, in the south of Yuzhou, in the west of Nanzhou and in the north of Fuzhou, with more than 4,000 households. There are many miasma, poisonous weeds and poisonous grass in the mountains. Sand lice and vipers live in the building and go up the stairs, which is called Ganlan."

"Book of Wei" says: "Liu Zhe, there are different species of southern barbarians, which arrived in the caves of Qiongze Mountain from Hanzhong. They are all found in the caves of Qiongze Mountain, and there are many types. They live scattered in the valleys, and there is no distinction between ethnic groups..." Building blocks on top of trees are called 'ganlan'. The size of the ganlan depends on the number of people in the family. "The old book of the Tang Dynasty" says: "The country is full of malaria, and the mountains have poisonous weeds and sand." The crickets and vipers live together in the building, which is called "ganlan".

"Yongshun County Chronicles·Miscellaneous Affairs" says: "The old local government offices had columns, carved beams, and rows of beautiful bricks. The people built their houses with wooden frames and weaved bamboo for walls. The leader of the house made a beam. The pillars and walls are not allowed to be covered with tiles. Violators will be punished with trespass. As the saying goes: "You are only allowed to buy horses, but you are not allowed to build tiles."

"Tang Zhi·Miscellaneous Notes" says: "The Patriarch's Hall is in the old Sicheng City. It was built in the second year of Jin Tianfu. The main hall has four pillars and is surrounded by several wooden beams. There are no ax chisel marks on the upper wooden beams, which is a truly magical workmanship." According to legend, it was built by Gongshuzi. "

"Ancient Chinese Architecture" says: "In the warm and humid south, houses are mostly oriented south or southeast to receive the cool sea breeze in summer, or in the lower part of the house. It uses an elevated dry-panel structure to circulate air and reduce moisture. In addition to wood, bricks, and stones, bamboo and reeds are also used as building materials; the walls are plain and there are many windows; the architectural style is light and airy..."

2. A few folklore documents call Tujia dwellings "corner buildings"

"Chinese Tujia Customs" says: "Most of the Tujia people's residences are wooden houses, and their structures are customary. It consists of four parts: the main house, the side house, the wooden building, and the facing door. The average family only has the main house, the side building, and the corner building. The wealthy families build a courtyard. It is built with a courtyard wall and sealed with bricks on all sides, commonly known as a fire barrel. Individual households also have a cupola and a clothes drying platform. The main house has three pillars and four flags, three pillars and five flags, five pillars and eight flags, or even seven pillars and twelve flags. It is divided into four rows of three rooms, and there are also six rows of five rooms. It is forbidden to build a single-door double-room house. The main room is the main room, which is used for worshiping ancestors and welcoming guests. There are aisles on both sides of the main room. The side house is commonly known as the "Baodou House". The side house is called Mojiao, also called "Ma Butu", or brush house. It is connected to the left and right sides of the main house and is classified as a kitchen house or a mill house with unique characteristics. The corner building is commonly called "Zuoma Zhuanjiao Building". In families with many children, the daughter lives in the corner building, so it is sometimes called the Xiuhua or Guniang Building. The corner building is built on the left or right front of the main house. There are also corner buildings on both sides of the main house. The corner building is usually three rows of two rooms, with two floors above, and a living room on the top, and a wing, warehouse or mill room on the bottom. There is a suspended corridor on the side of the main house. The wonderful corridor rises up and is quite majestic."

3. Tujia folk call Tujia dwellings "corner buildings"

Youshui Boat Song says: "Shiban Street, Wuli Road, Fenghuozi Zhuanjiaolou". Jia Shaoxing notes about Zhuanjiaolou: "Jianjiaolou, called lie3pB1 in Tujia language, is a unique architectural form among Tujia folk houses. Generally, Tujia people live in a house with three, five, or seven rooms. There are nine rooms in a row, with three pillars and four bays, five pillars and four bays, five pillars and eight bays, etc. A wooden house with three rooms in a row (four rows of three rooms) is called the main room, which is used to worship ancestors and welcome guests. It is used for major events such as weddings and funerals; the two rooms on the left and right are called houses, the front room is a fire shop, used for gatherings to discuss matters by the fire, and the back room is a bedroom. If the house foundation is wide enough and the family is relatively wealthy, it will be on the right side of the house. There is a side room for the kitchen, a firewood shed, a cattle pen, and a pigsty; on the left side there is a side room and a building. Under the building are a mill and a granary, and the upper part is used as a 'study' or the daughter's 'embroidery room'. If there are no sills, then the columns will be in line with the main house, and only some false column heads will be hung on the corridor on the second floor. Regardless of whether there are hanging legs or not, the eaves and corners must be raised on the outside of the building, so it is called 'corner building'."

Tujia Mountain Song goes like this: "It is difficult to sing a good folk song, it is difficult for a carpenter to build a turret, it is difficult for a rockworker to beat a rock lion, and it is difficult for a blacksmith to roll an iron ball."

Tujia proverb goes: "Your house is rich (meaning rich), your house is strong, why don't you have a corner tower (or sky tower)"; "There is Mount Emei in Sichuan, only three feet from the sky." 3. There is a cupola above the tree, with one corner reaching into the sky";

According to the author's investigation, the Tujia people's customs are most preserved in Pojiao, Dianfang, Tasha and Miao'er. The Tujia people in places such as Tantan, Xiche, Longtou, Liye, Jiashi, Neixi and other places call the Tujia characteristic houses "corner buildings".

4. Revealing the names of Tujia folk houses

Tujia people refer to their residences based on the structural form of the houses. Generally speaking, Tujia folk houses can be divided into single bedrooms and combined bedrooms. Combined bedrooms are composed of individual bedrooms, and their names are also different.

1. The names of individual Tujia houses

Tujia houses have three pillars and two flags (commonly known as sharp knife racks), three pillars and four flags, three pillars and five flags, three pillars and six flags. Three pillars with seven flags, four pillars with five flags, four pillars with six flags, four pillars with seven flags, four pillars with eight flags, five pillars with seven flags, five pillars with eight flags, six pillars with six flags, seven pillars with twelve flags, usually three rooms, four rooms, There are five rooms, and there are also six, seven, nine, and fifteen rooms. According to the materials, single dwellings can be classified into tile houses, rock houses, thatched houses and mud houses.

①. Tile house: a living room with round logs as columns, square logs as beams, wooden planks as walls, and purlins, citron corners, and mud tiles as cover.

②. Rock house: one is made of round logs as pillars, square logs as beams, and surrounded by rocks as walls; the second is made of rocks as walls.

③. Thatched house: a living room with logs as columns, purlins as beam frames, wooden strips or bamboo as rafters, covered with thatch or straw, and surrounded by wooden strips and thin bamboo walls.

④. Mud house: Use logs as pillars, purlins as the frame, cover with thatch or straw, use thin wooden strips, mangosteen as the wall, seal green paste (or bamboo) on the wooden (bamboo) wall Loess) A house made of mud.

There are no fixed rules for the materials used in individual Tujia houses, and their names are only referred to the main materials of the individual houses. In reality, Tujia folk houses are made of a variety of materials.

2. The name of Tujia combined home

Tujia combined home is a unique form of Tujia folk house. It is developed from Tujia single room and contains the aesthetic concept and craftsmanship value of Tujia people. , folk concepts and the idea of ??using nature for my own use and fighting against nature. Tujia integrated folk houses are called corner buildings, four-water houses, cellar houses, and cupolas, and their expressions are divided into two-water, three-water, and four-water houses.

①. Corner building. The expression forms of the corner building include Erheshui and Sanheshui. Dihe water is more common. When it is Erheshui, the main family builds a corner building on the left or right side of the main house, usually with two floors. When it is Sanheshui, either the corner tower is built on the left and the wing room is built on the right; or the corner tower is built on the right and the wing room is built on the left. The wing rooms usually have three pillars and four flags, and a few have three pillars and three flags or three pillars and five flags, two rooms in a row. The back of the wing is equipped with a grinding angle, commonly known as "longyan", "Qianpian" and "Pianshan". The first floor may be a pigsty, a cattle pen, a warehouse, or a mill. The second floor is used as a guest room or a boudoir (also called an embroidery room). The depth of the corner building is usually three columns and four flags or three columns and five flags. It usually has two rooms, but also has three rooms, and a few has four rooms. The front side of the second floor is a corridor with handrails. There are hanging log flag posts on the front and outside. The capitals (i.e. hanging legs) are oval melon-shaped wood carvings, which Tujia people call false capitals. The handrails and carved columns are about 1 meter away from the outer railings. Between the handrails and the front and side outer railings is a corridor for entry and exit, viewing or leisure. The tiles on the outside of the building have cornices and raised corners, so the Tujia people call it corner building. Corner buildings are relatively common in areas where Tujia people live, and any average-income family can have a corner building. At that time, the appearance of the Tujia corner building and the Miaoju stilted building were similar. The Miao people called Miaoju a stilted building because of the stilts on the building, while the Tujia people called the Tujia dwellings a corner building because of the warped corners of the tiles on the building. In fact, the complete Tujia corner building is more exquisite than the Miaoju stilted building in terms of form and structure, and its functions and uses are more complete and diverse.

②. Sishui House. The Sishui House is another unique building of Tujia folk houses, which is in the form of Siheshui. There are two main buildings at the front and rear of Sishui House, and the two main buildings are connected by wing rooms on the left and right sides. In a sense, Sishui House is actually composed of four individual buildings. Sishui House has two front and rear halls. The front hall functions as a corridor. There is a patio in the middle of the back hall, covering an area of ??about 2 square meters. There is a gutter dug in the corner of the patio. When it rains, the rainwater from the inner surface will flow into the patio and be discharged out of the house through the gutter. . The four-cornered eaves on the patio are formed by the aggregation of the inner roofs of four conjoined buildings, either quadrilateral or hexagonal. The patio and eaves have the symbolic meaning of gathering wealth and collecting treasures, and the ninety-nine are unified. The back hall is generally 4 to 7 steps higher than the front hall, and the front house is generally higher than the other three houses. Sishui House is larger than a corner house, and usually houses a few, a dozen, or even dozens of households, depending on the number of family members. Sishui House is the residence of wealthy Tujia people. At present, there are not many existing Sishui houses in our county.

③, cellar house. The cellar house is a courtyard-style residential form in which the Tujia people build the walls with stones and bricks to prevent theft and wind (cold). However, it is completely different from the Han family's courtyard house. It is characterized by its courtyard wall and facing door.

The buildings in the courtyard are either single houses, corner buildings, four-water houses, or even other unique architectural forms. They are the residences of wealthy and distinguished Tujia families.