China Ancient Architecture and Historical Evolution Sequence

I have been engaged in the teaching and creation of film and television art for more than 40 years. Although I worked as a vice principal in the middle, I have never left my major. 1959 I was admitted to the Fine Arts Department of Beijing Film Academy, majoring in film art design. Film art is a comprehensive plastic arts, or a marginal plastic arts discipline, which is closely related to painting, sculpture, architecture and other plastic arts. Some people once called movies "movable paintings, movable sculptures and movable buildings". So when I was in school, architecture was set as a professional basic course. At that time, Mr. Zhou from the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University was invited to teach this course. At that time, due to the lack of class hours, this course only gave a general introduction to the ancient buildings in China. During my study, I didn't know much about film art, I didn't have practical experience, and I didn't pay much attention to architecture classes, so I only mastered this knowledge at school. After work, the first play tells about the ancient buildings in China. The main scenes of that play are all human landscapes, ancient buildings of Ming and Qing dynasties in southwest China. At that time, both interior design and exterior design encountered problems of modeling, structure and scale of ancient buildings. Without a clue, I had to find the corresponding ancient buildings in my life, draw the image, structure and parts of the building with strokes, and measure the data with a ruler. At this time, I really realized the importance of ancient architecture knowledge to film and television artists, and I really knew how heavy it was.

After graduation, the department stipulates that every teacher should prepare a professional basic course, such as sketch, perspective, landscape setting, architecture and so on. In addition, there are courses designed for leaders. I took an architecture course. Began to study and study architecture, focusing on ancient architecture in China. Later, the film and television works I participated in were basically historical dramas: The Last Emperor, The Demon Queen, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 1898 Hundred Days, Burning Epang Palace and so on. It has an indissoluble bond with ancient architecture.

After retirement, he taught in Hebei Communication College and still taught film and television art design and architecture. Students graduated in several batches, and many of them engaged in environmental art design after graduation. Some students are involved in ancient buildings in their work and have encountered problems. They often come to me for inquiry and consultation, which makes me feel the importance of this course.

Last year, Hebei Media College decided to issue a batch of teaching materials as a gift for the 10th anniversary of its founding. All departments submitted 60 topics, of which 9 were finally selected. My book "Ancient Architecture and Historical Evolution in China" is one of them.

The ancient buildings in China are the treasures of our country and unique in the history of world architecture. Whether from the perspective of film and television art design or from the perspective of excavating and inheriting architectural cultural heritage, it is always meaningful to write a relatively popular and comprehensive book about ancient architecture in China.

My original intention in writing this book is to be a learning reference for young people who have just entered the circle of film and television art and stage art. There are three considerations: First, it is a comprehensive and popular teaching material for ancient architecture in China, which mainly includes basic contents such as brick and tile making, stone making, painting and color painting. To give readers a comprehensive understanding of ancient architectural knowledge in China. In addition, starting from the scene creation of film and television art in my old line, I wrote in "Historical Evolution of Ancient Buildings in China and Characteristics of Ancient Buildings in Different Historical Periods" that the materials collected in different historical periods, such as words, images, especially video materials, were used to the maximum extent, which was extremely useful for the creation of film and television art and stage art, for example, some parts of the Han Dynasty were the longest. Because of the ancient buildings in China, the buildings with the most physical objects on the ground are Ming and Qing Dynasties, and there are also a few in Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and only a few in Tang Dynasty, so the distant ancient building materials may belong to Han Dynasty for the first time. Although there is no physical object to test the ancient buildings of the Han Dynasty, written materials, unearthed Han Ming wares, murals of Han tombs, Han portrait bricks and Han portrait stones provide extremely rich architectural images of the Han Dynasty. Museums in Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanghai and other major cities have large collections and published many related books, so this part occupies a large proportion in history.

Film and television artists are architects in a sense, and film and television artists and architects have long had an indissoluble bond. 1895 The film was born, 1897 Meryl borrowed the stage scenery and applied two-dimensional painting to the film art; It is the architect Camilo Molosotti who really makes the film art break away from the two-dimensional scene and become a three-dimensional scene. 19 13 years, he designed the film Cabily, which formalized the film art. He completely transferred the knowledge of architecture to the film art, which made the film art design reach a new height. This film is of epoch-making significance in the history of film art development. The original painting form of art has been completely transformed, abandoned the plane, built a three-dimensional space, adapted to the essence of film movement, and opened up a correct road for the development of film art.

As far as I understand the relationship between film and television artists and architects, there are both differences and similarities. To sum up, the similarities and differences between them can be summarized as follows:

First, the architecture designed by architects is equivalent to the humanistic scene design of film and television artists. The main contents of humanistic scene design are: first, architecture, and second, props. From the perspective of architectural design, the two are consistent and common; However, the starting point of design is different. The starting point of architectural design is mainly to design houses for living, workshops for factories and theaters for entertainment. What is a bungalow for residential design? Is it a building? Is it a multi-family tower? Or a single-family villa? Mainly from the functional considerations; When designing, film and television artists should not only test its function, but also test "characters" and "plays". Starting from characters, specific characters are the focus of film and television art design. Who uses who to express, and designs the scene according to the specific characters. Character identity, personality, hobbies, etc. According to the specific characters, design the specific environment and express the specific characters with the specific environment. The creation of film and television artists is mainly to study the relationship between people and things, to express people, study things and design things through people, not people in abstract general sense, but concrete characters in the play; Drama is a story, which is designed according to the needs of drama. You can give up whatever you need and design for the play. Both of them are the focus and focus of film and television artists' creation, and also test whether the artists' creative thinking is active, how much information they have, the breadth of knowledge, the level of artistic accomplishment and the richness of creative experience. This is the first similarity and difference between film and television artists and architects in design.

Second, architects are all contemporary architects, and his design serves the contemporary people. Consistent with the times, the architectural style and style he designed are consistent and coordinated with the overall style of his time, and the object of his service is contemporary people; The film and television artist's creation is based on the script, and the story tells the real life. The environmental style he designed is contemporary, and the story is a historical theme, which may be the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Liao and Jin Dynasties, Tang and Song Dynasties, Qin and Han Dynasties, even the ancient primitive society, or the future and science fiction. An important criterion to measure the creation of film and television artists is "sense of the times", which era is represented, and whether the sense of the times is strong or not. His work style must conform to the specific historical era stipulated in the story. The study and mastery of architectural history is particularly important for film and television artists, and may be better than ordinary architects. This is the second similarity and difference between film and television artists and architects in design.

Third, the architect's architectural design is a long-term plan, a real thing, and can't be sloppy, so it can't be separated from mechanics and materials science. Film and television artists should design buildings for shooting to meet the needs of drama, scene scheduling and shooting requirements. The scenes designed and built should meet the requirements of lens position and movement. Those that are not suitable can be removed immediately and restored immediately if necessary. Real architecture can't solve this problem, but fake architecture made by artists can adapt. Architects are real architects, artists are bracketed architects, and "fake architects". Artists' designs are not buildings in the real sense, but just "scenery". Forged buildings, "confusing the real with the fake", but "confusing the real with the fake". Although they are fake, they should fool the audience's eyes in front of close-ups and make them believe. Of course, sometimes real buildings in life are used for shooting. The author filmed the TV series The Last Emperor on 1985. Once, a great Hong Kong director, Li Hanxiang, visited the studio. He was filming the scene in the back bedroom of hall of mental cultivation. Director Li went in and saw that the on-site production attracted him. He went to the railing, knocked carefully with his hand, and then smiled and said, "It's fake!" " Of course he knows it's fake, but it's just a humorous admiration for our successful simulation. For film and television artists, the higher the "deception", the stronger your art and skills. The main building materials that artists want to show, whether brick materials, reinforced concrete materials, stone materials or various emerging materials, are all wooden landscapes, so artists don't study mechanics and materials science, and the big wooden joints of ancient buildings are made of mortises and tenons, while artists build landscapes without mortises and tenons, but only use nails, which are dismantled after shooting and not preserved.

So the first draft of this book did not involve tenons and mortises. Later, I thought that this book was only for the film and television art circle and the stage art circle, and the service area was too narrow. It is better to add this part to make it have certain reference value for newcomers, gardeners, ancient building maintenance workers and decoration workers, so it is written into the current version.

In order to facilitate readers to understand the text, in addition to some two-dimensional pictures, some three-dimensional model photos and some animations are attached to the text, which may be the difference between this book and other such books, and it can also be said to be an innovation.

The contents of the other book are basically the results of previous studies, and I just process them according to my own needs.

Architecture is a complex project with time and space, and it is a big subject. Space is full of the world, and the buildings in different countries are different. China's architecture is also different in the east, west, north and south. Han and ethnic minorities have different architectural styles, from cities to houses, from palaces to houses, from shopping malls to sidewalks, from theaters to theaters, from workshops to warehouses, from airports to stations, from command posts to bunkers. From the time point of view, China is different from the primitive society, from Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, through the East and West Han Dynasties, to Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, from Sui and Tang Dynasties to Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties, and finally to Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties until today. The further history goes, the fewer ancient buildings are preserved on the ground. The earliest preserved buildings on the ground in China are those in the Tang Dynasty, with only three or four works. As far as I know, Buddhist buildings include Bugu Temple, nanzenji and Wutai Mountain Wild Goose Pagoda. So far, no residential buildings in the Tang Dynasty have been found. The more we push forward, the less information, especially the physical image data. So I put the focus of China's ancient architecture on the ancient buildings in Qing Dynasty. The architecture in Qing Dynasty was the last prosperous period of the development of ancient architecture in China. It developed on the basis of inheriting the architecture of the previous dynasty and formed its own unique style. There are many benefits to learning Qing dynasty architecture. First of all, buildings of the Qing Dynasty can be found more or less all over China. Beijing has well-preserved palace buildings, royal ancestral halls and royal places of worship in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, as well as some well-preserved buildings and houses in the Qing Dynasty for our reference. Architectural documents of the Qing Dynasty, such as Examples of Engineering Practices by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, can also be consulted. Old craftsmen, artists, experts and scholars are alive, and these precious wealth provide a reliable guarantee for us to study the architecture of the Qing Dynasty.

With the passage of time and the development of the times, there are fewer and fewer ancient buildings in China, including those in the Qing Dynasty. The ancient buildings preserved on the ground are our precious spiritual wealth, material wealth and cultural wealth, and we have the responsibility to protect them and pass them on to our future generations. At the same time, we can see that with the reform and opening up, the ancient buildings in China are more and more favored by Chinese and foreign tourists. "The more national it is, the more cosmopolitan it is." This famous saying is increasingly confirmed. Since liberation, China's ancient buildings have never been valued as they are today. Some tourist attractions are built in ancient buildings, some high school hotels attract guests with traditional decoration, and even traditional decoration has entered the homes of ordinary people. Therefore, the study of Qing architecture is our key topic.

In addition, mastering the architectural structure, scale, style and style of Qing Dynasty is helpful for us to study the architecture of ancient China in different historical periods and compare it with others. Qing dynasty architecture is the ruler and an important reference. Only when there is reference can there be comparison, and only when there is comparison can there be recognition.

This book was only written in June last year, and it took less than ten months. It is too difficult to finish such a book. I am responsible for writing, and Miao and Zhou He are responsible for making two-dimensional legends, three-dimensional model photos and three-dimensional animations. We don't have a division of labor, and there are pictures and texts in the text. We cooperate tacitly and happily, otherwise it will be difficult to complete.

Thanks to Professor Zhong, the president of the Academy of Fine Arts, and Mr Zheng Zhongyuan, the animation teaching and research group, for their support and help.

Especially, Mr. Yang Hongxun, a famous expert in the field of Chinese ancient architectural history, is 80 years old, and he can still take time out of his busy schedule to give guidance and provide information for revision and perfection. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks here.

Due to the rush of time, mistakes, flaws and shortcomings will inevitably exist. I hope that the predecessors, experts, scholars and readers in the field of ancient architecture will criticize and correct me.

He Bao Tong

20 10 March 1 1