Chinese architecture
Chinese architecture, like all architectures, is culture's echo chamber and thus draws on a heady mix of Buddhist superstition, Daoist folk beliefs, Confucian morality and the ever present weight of imperial authority. The endless formal analysis of roof lines and dry statistical decompositions of pavilions do little to illuminate the relationship between a living culture and what it calls home and reflects the dearth of understanding both in Chinese and Architectural studies.
Architecture is a communicative art that situates human activity within the horizon of possibilities. If the range of possible actions made available to a person is governed by Ethics in the west, it looks to Harmony in the east.
See also
- Chinese art
- Architectural history
- Imperial roof decoration
- Imperial guardian lions
- Shanghai - for a gallery of modern buildings
Categories: Architecture by country