Terrace

Feb 15th, 2007
Posted by handicraft

The tai was an ancient architectural structure,a very much elevated terrace with a flat top.Generally built of earth and stone and surfaced with brick,it was used as a belvedere from which to look into the distance.In fact,however,many a wellknown ancient tai as we know it today is not just a bare platform but has some palatial halls built on top.

 A good example in hand is the Round City of the Beihai Park in Beijing.A terrace five metres high,It has,on its top space of 4,500 square metres,a main hall with side corridors.


The tai could be built to serve different practical purposes.It could be used as an observatory,as for instance the one near Jianguomen in Beijing which,with its brass astronomical instruments,dates to the Ming and Qing dynastiesl.It could also be used militarily,like the beacon towers along the Great Wall,to transmit urgent information with smoke by day and fire by night.Also on the Great Wall,there is a square tai at intervals of every 300 to 400 metres,from which the garrison troops kept watch.On the track of the ancient Silk Road can still be seen,here and there,ruins of the old defence fortifications in the form of earthen terraces.

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