Architecture
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Stone Lions
In front of the gates of traditional buildings--palace halls,old government offices,mansions and other houses of style--one can still see a pair of lions standing guard.Carved out of stone*,they are a male and a female,with the male on the left,his...
Palace
The Chinese word for palaceis gong which,however,may refer to anyone of several different things. In the earliest Chinese writings it meant no more than an ordinary house.After the founding of the Qin Dynasty(221-206 B.C.),gong came gradually to mean...
Stone Baluster Head
Important halls,towers and pavilions in the old palaces of China normally stand on terraces.These are bordered with marble balustrades;so are many historic bridges of stone.The upright posts or balusters supporting them,called wangzhu in Chinese,hav...
Glazed Tile
The glazed tile,as a high-grade building material in old China,was used exclusively on palace buildings of the imperial house of the big mansions of nobles and high officials. The glaze was normally in one of four colours:yellow,green,blue and black...
Screen Wall
Foreign visitors may have noticed the isolated wall either outside or just inside the gate of a traditional Chinese house to shield the rooms from outsider's view.Known as a screen wallin English,it is called yingbi or zhaobi in Chinese.It can be ma...
Ornamental Pillar
A well-known architectural ornament in China is the huabiao,often seen on the grounds of palaces,imperial gardens and mausoleums.It is also seen at some crossroads to mark the thoroughfares. There is a pair of such ornamental pillars carved out of ma...