On the Internal Structure of Residential Buildings in Ming Dynasty

In ancient times, residence was not only a place to live, but also regarded as a sign of the owner's identity. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the imperial court restricted the residential form of officials and people, but it was still rough and loose. For example, in the Song Dynasty, officials under six grades were not allowed to build Aconitum Gate in front of their houses, and ordinary people's houses were only allowed to enter five deep houses and only one gatehouse, and cornices, double arches, four shops, algae wells and colored decorations were not allowed. The focus is on the identity differences between district officials and ordinary people. In the early Ming dynasty, the classification of residential buildings was strict, and officials were not allowed to use closed hills, double-eaved roofs, double arches and caissons to build houses. These restrictions were originally aimed at ordinary people in the Song Dynasty, but now they are aimed at officials. That is to say, no matter how high your official position is, except for members of the royal family, you can only use the "two houses" (hanging mountains and hard mountains) in your residence. In addition, the residence of princes and ministers is divided into four floors, and there are strict restrictions on the number of rooms between the door and the hall, the depth and the paint color. As for people's houses, no more than three rooms are allowed, and no arch fights or color fights are allowed. All these reflect that the strict hierarchical system in the Ming Dynasty has been fully manifested in the form of housing, but the phenomenon of exceeding the system is very common. Up to now, a number of exquisite gold-plated paintings and masonry carvings have been preserved in the residential buildings in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Officials at different levels have different levels of housing. The Ming Dynasty had strict regulations on architecture. According to the Records of the Imperial Government in the History of Ming Dynasty, the captaincy called the government, the officials called the house, and Shu Ren called the home, so the scale of residential buildings was also limited. Princes build houses by grades, while Shu Ren can only build houses with three rooms and five frames. For example, Prince Mi of Ming Dynasty was divided into two parts, the front part had triple halls, the back part had triple palaces, and both sides had courtyards. The layout is like the Forbidden City, but it is much smaller.

The architectural style of Ming Dynasty is rough and simple in decoration.

From the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368- 1644), China entered the late feudal society. Most of the architectural styles in this period were inherited from the Song Dynasty, and there was no obvious change, but the architectural design and planning were characterized by large scale and magnificent weather.

The urban planning and palace architecture in this period were used by later generations: Beijing, the capital, and Nanjing, the largest existing ancient city in China, benefited from the planning and management of the Ming Dynasty, and the palaces of the Qing emperors were constantly expanded and improved on the basis of the palaces of the Ming Dynasty. Beijing, the capital of this period, was rebuilt on the original basis and divided into three parts: outer city, inner city and imperial city.

In the Ming Dynasty, we continued to vigorously build a magnificent defensive building-the Great Wall. The walls of many important sections of the Great Wall and Chengguan Fortress are made of bricks, and the building level has reached the highest level. The Ming Great Wall starts from Yalu River in the east and ends at Jiayuguan in Gansu in the west, with a total length of 5,660 kilometers. Shanhaiguan, Jiayuguan and other famous Guancheng are masterpieces with unique style in China's architectural art; Beijing Badaling Great Wall and Simatai Great Wall are of high artistic value.

During this period, the art and technology of wood structure have been further developed in architecture, the image of official architecture has become more rigorous and stable, and its decoration, color painting and decoration have become increasingly stereotyped. There are many works made of different materials, such as masonry, glass, hardwood and so on. And bricks have been widely used in the walls of residential buildings.

By the Ming Dynasty, the architectural layout of China was more mature. Nanjing Ming Tombs and Beijing Ming Tombs are outstanding examples of being good at using topography and environment to form solemn atmosphere of tombs.

In addition, at this time, the private garden construction of bureaucratic landlords in Jiangnan was very developed, and Ming-style furniture was also famous all over the world.

It is worth mentioning that Feng Shui reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty, which is a unique ancient cultural phenomenon in the architectural history of China, and its influence continued until modern times.