Features of Siheyuan, Shikumen and Nagoya

The square courtyard of Beijing Siheyuan is for the sunshine in winter. In southern Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and other places, the sun is fierce in the west in summer, and the courtyard narrows and lengthens in the north and south to reduce sunshine. Northwest Gansu and Qinghai have a lot of wind and sand, and the courtyard walls are raised, which is called "Zhuangke". Northeast China has a vast territory and a cold climate. In order to receive more sunshine, the yard is often very wide, and there are many open spaces on the walls of the house. Siheyuan in different places have different characteristics to meet the needs of home life.

China quadrangles generally have three courtyards, with five or seven main rooms and wing rooms. The main building is very high and has a porch. There are 3 or 5 rooms in the East Wing and 5 rooms in the West Wing. There is a gable in the south wing to separate the courtyard, forming a courtyard, and there is a hanging moon gate in the center of the gable. Hanging flower gate is the dividing line between inside and outside. The "second door" that people often say is "the door will not go out, and the second door will not move", which refers to this hanging door. The front yard is also called the outer yard. The outer court has one or two wings, which are smaller than those of the inner court. It is mostly used as a kitchen or a servant's room. There are five or seven rooms facing the street, the easternmost one is the gate, followed by the concierge, then the living room or study, and the westernmost one is the garage.

The grand quadrangle is magnificent, with many tall buildings, overlapping courtyards, front porch and back mansion, hand-picked veranda, hanging flower doors and screen walls. There is a courtyard in the courtyard, a garden outside the courtyard, and the courtyards are connected. It is a large residential building that ordinary people can't live in.

The architectural layout of quadrangles is obviously influenced by the ancient geomantic theory. The gate is not located on the central axis, but in the "Xun" position or "Gan" position of gossip. Therefore, the gate of Lubei residential building is located in the southeast corner of the residential building, and the gate of Lunan residential building is located in the northwest corner of the residential building. There are screen walls inside and outside the gate.