Design concept in Sui and Tang Dynasties

The architecture in Sui and Tang Dynasties has reached a quite mature stage. The building is large in scale, bold in spirit, neat but not rigid, gorgeous but not refined. Especially in bridge engineering, it has made outstanding achievements.

1. Zhao Zhouqiao is the oldest stone arch bridge in the world, which was designed and built by Li Chun in Sui Dynasty.

Zhao Zhouqiao, formerly known as Anji Bridge, is a stone arch bridge designed and built by Li Chun, an outstanding craftsman in Sui Dynasty. Located on the Weihe River in Nanwuli, Zhao County, Hebei Province. Zhao County was called Zhaozhou in ancient times, so Anji Bridge is also called Zhao Zhouqiao. Zhao Zhouqiao's design is very scientific and consists of five arches. The big arch in the middle has a span of 37.45 meters, and there are two small arches at both ends of the big arch, which can not only reduce the load of the big arch and the bridge foundation, but also divert the flood and save building materials. At the same time, the small arch also adds a beautiful, exquisite and vivid gesture to the stone bridge itself. Zhao Zhouqiao is strong and durable, and the bridge deck is gentle, which is conducive to traffic. Zhao Zhouqiao has basically maintained its original appearance, and chariots and horses can still pass. About 1400 years ago, after a long period of floods, earthquakes and weathering, it still stood. This is a miracle, and the emergence of this miracle is undoubtedly due to the ingenious design.

Du Fu, a poet in the Song Dynasty, praised Anji Bridge for "driving a stone flying beam to make a rainbow, and the black dragon was frightened and ground empty"; Liu Baixi of the Yuan Dynasty wrote a poem praising "Water flows over Yuhuan, and people get on the back of the black dragon". Zhu, a poet in the Ming Dynasty, praised Anji Bridge for "a hundred feet of rainbow crossed the water, and a crescent moon rose out of the sky", which is actually not commendable.

Liang Sicheng, a famous modern ancient architect, said that the structure of Zhao Zhouqiao "adopts a way of knowing engineering mechanics very well and extremely economical and intelligent control. ..... showing a very modern and progressive engineering spirit, which is amazing. " 199 1 year, American society of civil engineers selected Zhao Zhouqiao as "International Civil Engineering Historical Monument".

Zhao Zhouqiao has become a rare and beautiful scenery in the history of bridge architecture, listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the state, and an important local tourism resource, attracting countless domestic and foreign tourists every year.

2. Tang Dou Chang 'an and Daming Palace Hanyuan Hall

It is about 9,700 meters long from east to west and 8,600 meters long from north to south, which is ten times the area of Xi 'an Old Town today. Chang 'an is a huge city of "One Million Chang 'an" and the largest city in the world at that time.

Chang' an city and the square are separate and symmetrical. Streets and houses in the city are planned like a chessboard. The streets in the city are neat, wide and straight, lined with trees and drainage facilities. These are all new creations in the history of urban architecture in China.

Daming Palace is located on the Dragon Head Courtyard in the northeast of Chang 'an, commanding and built by Emperor Taizong. Hanyuan Temple is the main hall of Daming Palace. Every year on New Year's Day and the winter solstice, the emperor will hold a big court meeting, and major ceremonies such as military parade and prisoner offering will be held here. Its nature is equivalent to the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and its area is basically the same.

The magnificent Hanyuan Temple complex fully demonstrates the outstanding creative talents of China architects and designers 1300 years ago.

(B) the invention of block printing

1. Block printing was invented in Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Before the invention of printing, people copied books by hand, which was time-consuming and laborious and easy to make mistakes. People invented block printing in Sui and Tang Dynasties. What is block printing?

2. The earliest block-printed Diamond Sutra in the world.

The original engraving printing in the Tang Dynasty has been lost. The Diamond Sutra we see now is about 488 cm long. The front of the scroll is the Buddha statue, followed by the scriptures. It is a fairy tale that Sakyamuni told his disciples, and all the immortals around him are listening. Everyone looks very serious. Beautiful picture, smooth lines, neat fonts, simple and thick, even ink and wash, skilled knife work, is a beautiful printmaking art.

That is to say, this Diamond Sutra is a Buddhist sutra carved by a man named Wang Jun in the ninth year of the founding of the Communist Party of China, that is, in 868 AD, to pray for his parents to eliminate disasters. In this way, this diamond sutra is the earliest block printing with exact date in the world.

The earliest block printing in the world was the Diamond Sutra, but it was taken away by foreign colonists in modern times.

"1900, when the Thousand Buddha Cave in Dunhuang on the Silk Road was repaired, a secret cave was discovered, which was full of ancient manuscripts and paintings. This Thousand-Buddha Cave, which opened in 366 AD, has 469 caves, each of which is full of artistic masterpieces left by painters and sculptors from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty 1000 years ago. The discovery of this treasure house of cultural relics and arts quickly attracted the attention of imperialists. 1907, marc stein, a Hungarian who worked for Britain, got wind of it and immediately went to Qianboiling Cave with Jiang Xiaowan, an interpreter from China. He tried his best to trick Wang Daochang, the abbot of the Thousand Buddha Cave, and selected 24 boxes of ancient manuscripts, 5 boxes of ancient paintings and silk embroidery, totaling more than 10000 pieces, all of which were delivered to the British Museum in London. And he only paid 500 taels of silver and 130 Jin in taxes for these rare treasures. 19 14 years, Stan cheated five boxes of manuscripts from here, including more than 600 volumes of Buddhist scriptures. Among them, the woodcut "Diamond Sutra" in 868 AD is an extremely rare treasure in the history of printing. Stein is an extremely greedy so-called "sinologist". He carried out three cultural relics sweeps in the western regions of China, which lasted 16 years, and stole enough precious cultural relics and documents to fill a museum. There are many, many problems like this ... ".

Tang poetry is the main achievement of Tang literature, and the Tang Dynasty is the most glorious period of China's classical poetry. There are nearly 50,000 poems left over from the Tang Dynasty, two or three times more than those left over from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the number of famous poets greatly exceeds the sum of all famous poets from the Warring States to the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Generally speaking, Tang poetry can be divided into four periods: early Tang, prosperous Tang, middle Tang and late Tang.

(1) The outstanding poet in the early Tang Dynasty was Chen Ziang. At the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, it was the frivolous palace poems of the Southern Dynasties that occupied the poetic world. Until the reign of Tang Gaozong, Chen Ziang, whose life experience, thoughts and feelings were different from those of palace poets, tried his best to get rid of the "decadent" poetic style advocated by Liang Chen and advocated "style" in his poetry creation under the call of restoring ancient ways. His Story of Youzhou Tower contributed to the development of Tang poetry.

(2) The prosperous Tang Dynasty was an era of brilliant poetry, and the development of Tang poetry reached the peak of prosperity, with many famous poets, schools and poetic styles. The pastoral school, represented by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran, describes a leisurely and quiet pastoral life. Although they sometimes reveal the negative thoughts and political frustrations of Buddha and Lao, they have made great achievements in art. Their poems have enriched the pastoral poems formed since the Jin and Song Dynasties and have a certain position in the history of literature. At this time, students can recall the characteristics of Wang Wei's poems they learned in middle school at first. The poems of frontier poets Gao Shi and others not only depict the magnificent frontier scenery, but also reflect the fearless spirit, optimistic spirit, homesickness and the difference between soldiers, adding fresh and magnificent colors to Tang poetry. Li Bai and Du Fu were the highest achievers in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Li Bai despises powerful people, is cynical, yearns for light and pursues freedom; His poems are magnificent, passionate, imaginative and far-reaching, with outstanding romantic style, and are known as "poetic immortals". He is another great romantic poet after Qu Yuan. "Difficult Road to Shu" and "Looking at Lushan Waterfall" are all masterpieces of the ages. Teachers can also recite Li Bai's A Word to Meng Haoran to students and experience the style of Li Bai's poems. Du Fu is an outstanding realistic poet in our country, and he is known as "Poet Saint". Du Fu lived in the era of prosperity and decline before and after the An Shi Rebellion, and was poor and frustrated all his life. Therefore, his poems exposed the political fatuity and decadent life of the ruling class, reflected the tragic situation of the lower class before and after the war, and showed sympathy for the working people and concern for state affairs. His poetic style is deep and ups and downs; The language foundation is very profound. "For human nature, language is not surprisingly endless." This serious creative spirit of "no regrets" makes him a great representative of realistic poets, and his excellent works include Three Officials and Three Farewells.

(3) After the Anshi Rebellion, the vitality of the Tang Dynasty was greatly weakened, and the social contradictions at the bottom became increasingly acute. The realistic spirit of poetry completely replaced the high-spirited optimism and became the mainstream in the middle Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi, a poet in the middle Tang Dynasty, inherited Du Fu's tradition, further advocated that "articles should be written on time, and songs and poems should be written according to events", and set off a new Yuefu movement, arguing that poetry should develop along the realistic direction of "supplementing current events and releasing human feelings" and pursue a simple and simple poetic style in art. Bai Juyi's 50 satirical poems "New Yuefu" are the representatives of this kind of poetry.

In the late Tang Dynasty, feudal rule was in jeopardy and class contradictions were unprecedented. With the decline of the national situation, the style of poetry has also changed. Du Mu and Li Shangyin are two highly accomplished poets who were active in the early stage of the late Tang Dynasty. Du Mu advocates "paying attention" in literary creation, and opposes the simple pursuit of "rhetoric", which is more in line with reality. Li Shangyin's career was bumpy all his life, but he always cared about politics, and chanting historical poems accounted for a large proportion in his poems. The epics of these two poets both reflect the declining reality of the Tang Dynasty, but both reveal personal frustrations. In art, Du Mu pursues "sublime" and is not satisfied with "wonderful"; Li Shangyin, on the other hand, formed a unique style of deep affection, grace, elegance and delicacy, and made new contributions to the development of China's classical poetry.