The origin of yurts in yurt architecture

The reasons for the emergence and disappearance of this kind of building are mainly in nature and production, or economic reasons. The production and life style of Inner Mongolia from ancient times to Yuan Dynasty was nomadic, looking for grasslands and moving by water plants. In order to adapt to such production and living customs, the nomadic people in the north created a movable living building-yurts, which are mainly swimming houses and gradually standardized in the long-term production and life. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the productive forces in the Central Plains were greatly destroyed in the war, coupled with frequent natural disasters and the predatory "enclosure" of the Manchu Palace, which left farmers in a hungry and cold situation. In order to survive, they were forced to "go west" and "go east" and reclaim land in Mongolia to make a living. From the beginning of Qing Dynasty, a large number of farmers poured in, and it showed an upward trend year by year, reclaiming a large number of grasslands to develop farming. From the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu government began to prohibit the reclamation of Mongolian land, to gradually admit the facts and allow the reclamation of some Mongolian land, until it gave up reclamation, implemented the "immigration reality" and fully liberalized the reclamation of Mongolian land. The Beiyang government and the Kuomintang inherited the reclamation policy in the late Qing Dynasty, but also intensified the implementation of the reclamation policy of "Mongolian localization" and formulated many laws to reward reclamation. Nearly a hundred years of reclamation has made nomadic economy lose its foundation of existence, and Mongolia's mode of production presents a pattern of giving priority to agriculture and concurrently engaging in animal husbandry. Since then, with the disappearance of nomadic ways, herders do not need to move. Building houses and houses has become a trend on the Mongolian plateau. Mongolian yurts, ox carts and even horses have lost their use value.

This paper discusses the basic standardized yurt architecture and its knowledge and technical level. Throughout its history, although the materials, structure, interior decoration and form of Mongolian yurts have changed to some extent, they are not beyond the scope of experience, and there is no architectural thought and principle. Why can they still attract the attention of scholars? This seems to be an enduring topic. The key is that yurts are not only technical buildings and material texts, but also cultural texts of nomadic people in the north. Through reading, we can understand how the relationship among residents, the universe and society is constructed during the formation of these local knowledge and technologies. "From a practical point of view, houses enable people to avoid natural storms, but the effect of houses not only reflects some technical considerations, but also reflects cultural preferences."

(1) The yurt is a house that is easy to move. This migration is different from the site selection of other ethnic groups in ancient China. There is no principle of geomantic omen about the house, but it is based on the regular migration of seasons, climate, grasslands, livestock and people. It is a wonderful embodiment of nomadic people adapting to nature and living in harmony with nature. The knowledge or natural concept about grassland growth gained in long-term nomadic life has become the basis of yurt construction. Man and nature are integrated, which also makes them bound by supernatural ideas outside a few people, forming a bold character and national characteristics.

(2) The yurt structure reflects the world outlook. The shape and structure of yurts are not entirely a technical choice, but also a cultural choice. Nomads live on the vast grassland, which is endless. "Surrounded by the horizon connected with heaven and earth, heaven and earth are far away and intersect, and can accommodate human beings and everything in the world, so it is easy to have the idea of' a round place'. This is their simplest concept of the universe, which is embodied in the house. Therefore, the structure of circular walls and skylights is an imitation of the sky.

Nomadic people believed in Shamanism in the early days, and Shamanism's explanation of the structure of the universe also penetrated into the structure of Mongolian yurts. "Shamanism philosophy puts forward two modes of cosmic structure, one is that the universe is closed and the other is that the universe is open. ? The theory of universe closure advocates the theory of universe finiteness, which includes the concrete structural model of the universe, such as the theory of covering the sky. As far as the theory of "covering the sky" is concerned, … while hunting nomads living in the arid grasslands in the north advocate the theory of "the sky is like a vault". The blue sky, like a vault, caged on a leaf, can be said to be the most intuitive and simple concept of the universe. The vault is a model of the universe known to ancient nomads. "

(3) The connection between yurts and life: The significance of yurts to nomadic people is different from other social situations. In nomadic economy, due to the limited carrying capacity of grassland, different yurts are far apart in the form of scattered grazing. Mongolian yurts have become the focus of people's lives and the dependence of their lives. Once the packaging is destroyed, there is nothing to rely on. Invisible yurts and people have experienced the process of mutual infiltration, and they are integrated and inseparable. Therefore, the components of yurts are regarded as symbols of human life. The door corresponds to the throat, the kitchen fire corresponds to the heart, and the skylight corresponds to the head. There are customs and rules, you can't step on the threshold, and the stove fire should be placed in the center of the bag.

(4) Mongolian yurts are the space for compiling interpersonal relationships. As a kind of folk house, yurts first provide people with a safe haven, food and warmth. More importantly, from birth, people live in a space isolated from the outside world, old and young, men and women. The rules, hints and meanings existing in these relationships have enabled people to obtain socially recognized methods and attitudes, which is a socialization process. Mongolian yurts are divided into different spatial orientations around the kitchen fire, expressing and compiling the relationship network of sacred-secular, past-present, man-woman, old man-junior, self-outsider. In this round house of less than tens of square meters, people have developed the ethical and social relations between people, as well as the sacred relationship between people and God. In a society with the same psychological affiliation, people live a harmonious life according to the same code of conduct.

The stove fire is located in the center of the yurt, which is a symbol and symbol of the formation of spatial relationship. "It played a role in counting points when the yurt space was formed, and the whole family life revolved around this place." First of all, the kitchen fire is the territory of western men, and the daily necessities and production tools used by men, such as saddles, whips, chews and brushes, are generally located in the west. On the east side of the stove fire is a place for women's activities, where women's daily necessities, kitchen utensils, tableware and milk barrels used in production are placed, and women sit on the east side of the house. The spatial pattern of the Mongolians with the west as the top, the men's area west and the women's area east reflects the social status and division of labor between men and women. Secondly, the stove fire is the starting point of the current space expansion, and it is also the connection point of diachronic space and time. "It is the bond between grandparents and grandchildren." Because, according to Mongolian custom, the youngest son is the heir of a family fire, and adding the words "Wotijinchi" after his name means the owner of the fire. The youngest son is the one who inherits his father's most precious property-fire. In this way, the intergenerational relationship is established, a family can continue, and space and time are unified by the medium of kitchen fire. Historical Collection: "Tuo Lei basically inherited all the land, pasture and property of Genghis Khan before his death, except the property and territory he got when he was in office." .

At the same time, it is bounded by the east and west rails of the skylight, that is, the south of the stove fire is a secular area for placing daily necessities, and the north is a holy place for worshipping Buddha. So the old people are in the north or the west, and the young people are under the old people (south). Old people should love young people, while young people should respect old people. Spatial norms provide a realistic way for the formation of this emotion.

(5) The yurt is a space for displaying religious thoughts and beliefs. Mongolian yurts have been closely related to the beliefs of nomadic people and the gods in their hearts since their birth. If it is believed that the opening direction, shape, color, decoration and internal pattern distribution of her door were constructed at first. Then, after all these are formed, faith endows the tent with sacred quality and strength, a kind of religious and cultural strength, which plays a role in people living in it, so that the knowledge about the universe and attitude towards life formed and handed down in history can be handed down from time to time in the form of physical objects. At the same time, through the same housing living conditions and surrounding religious activities, different people in a society form the same spiritual worship, which is also the basic element of social cohesion and social order.

Shamanism is polytheism, including the worship of natural objects and phenomena such as gods, ancestors, Vulcan, sun, moon and stars. Their significance is embodied in the shape, structure, internal layout, decoration and other tangible things, giving it sacred quality and strength.

One of the most important sacred places in the yurt is the stove. Because they worship Vulcan, they regard fire as an important symbol of the existence and continuation of a family and a symbol of the prosperity of a family. As a result, there are all kinds of taboos about burning fire. For example, don't throw unclean things into the fire, even cigarette butts, don't knock on the bracket, don't hit the bracket with scissors, don't put the pot on the bracket, don't cut things by the fire, and so on. These taboos all come from the special psychology of Mongolian people who worship fire, and think that angering Vulcan will bring bad luck to themselves and their families.