Most of the residential courtyards in Datong are quadrangles, which are basically the same as those in the ancient cities in northern China. The construction history of quadrangles can be traced back at least to the Qin and Han Dynasties. At that time, quadrangles had taken shape and were widely used in Song and Yuan Dynasties. It can be seen from the murals of Ruicheng Yongle Palace in Jinnan, Shanxi, that the residential quadrangles in the Yuan Dynasty are basically the same as those in today's quadrangles. By the Ming Dynasty, the layout of quadrangles had been improved day by day.
Since the fifth year of Hongwu, the general Xu Da "built" Datong City, he began to build a large-scale construction project, creating government offices, palaces and residential buildings. Because the east, south, west and north corners and checkerboard streets are a foregone conclusion, the overall layout of quadrangles is built according to the direction of streets, and in each street, there are courtyard gates in the east, west, south and north directions. In the sixth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, after Dourgen led his troops to attack Datong City, he frantically carried out "killing the city" and "chopping the city", and the Ming Dynasty was completely destroyed by the fire of soldiers. The quadrangle buildings that can be seen now were all built after the "Great Harmony Return" in the eighth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty and in the early years of the Republic of China.
When you roam the streets and lanes, you will find gatehouses with beautiful shapes and different shapes, which embellish the scenery of the streets. Among these gatehouses with different shapes and sizes, there are broad-bright, mansion-hugging and hanging-fancy. No matter which style of gatehouses are made, the workmanship is also quite fine. Brick carvings are used to install horizontal arches, vertical columns and carved buckets. The roof of the gatehouse is provided with ridges, vertical ridges, gullies and drops, and the ridges are also provided with unicorn animals. Some large families also have horse stones, horse pegs and lamp posts in front of their doors; Some official families hang huge plaques such as "Jinshi Ji", "prefect's military gate house" and "five generations living under one roof" on the forehead of the gate, and a flagpole with a height of three feet is erected in front of the gate, with a stone pedestal under it. At the height of the flagpole two feet, there is a container, which is dedicated to placing offerings during sacrifice. There are stone lions on both sides of the gate to show their strictness.
In the past, the gates of government offices all sat facing south, and the gatehouse was located on the central axis to show its strictness and power. The gate of residential quadrangles is open in all directions along the street, and the gatehouse is not on the central axis, but in the southeast corner. The reason is that since the Song Dynasty, "Feng Shui" has been very popular in China, and the door is opened in the direction of "Xun" in Yin and Yang gossip, which means "Kun Zhai Xun Men", that is, "Xun Men" means the southeast, and the door is opened to the southeast corner for good luck. This custom is in Shanxi. Hebei, Shandong, Shaanxi and other places are quite popular, so in Datong area, residential doors also like to open in the southeast corner.
After entering the gate, there is a shadow wall on the front, which is divided into three parts: upper, middle and lower parts: there is an imitation wood rafter on the top, a single slope tile roof, a horizontal ridge in the middle, unicorn animals at both ends, brick-carved bucket arches on the forehead and brick-carved hanging flower columns on both sides; The center of the screen wall is inlaid with brick carvings such as "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea", "Fu Lushou Sanxing", "Crane and Deer in the Same Spring", "Good Luck", "Magpie Climbing Plums", "Danfeng Chaoyang" and "Fu". Below the screen wall is a carved brick seat. The whole screen wall is carved in fine detail, with unique and novel patterns, magnificent composition, meaning good luck and great sense of welcoming guests.
most of the second doors are located on the left side of the screen wall, and their size is different from that of the main door. If the gate is bright or mansion-holding, the second gate can only use vertical fancy; If the gate is vertical, the second gate can only use the arch gate and the wall gate.
when you enter the second gate, you will arrive at the residential quadrangle, which is a generally closed layout. The courtyard is the center of fire prevention, theft prevention, lighting, ventilation, transportation, rest and housework. Generally, quadrangles have three main rooms, one wing room on the left and right sides, three east rooms, three west rooms and three south rooms, and toilets and grinding rooms are built in the southwest corner. Small quadrangles have only one courtyard, while large quadrangles have two courtyards, three courtyards, east-west courtyards and gardens. According to the survey, No.1 Chessboard Street in the southwest corner is a courtyard with two entrances, and the backyard has an east courtyard. No.1 Jiaoxi Street in the southeast corner of the county is a three-way courtyard.
Nowadays, in quadrangles, due to the population growth, the housing is relatively tight, and every family has to build another kitchen. Although the original appearance of quadrangles has changed, there is still a sense of lofty gatehouse and deep courtyard. Through the gatehouse courtyard, we can identify the rich and poor family, status, official position and hobbies of the owner of the house.