What is the quadrangle in China like? скачать в хорошем качестве

What is the quadrangle in China like?

Hi, I'm Andy, Today we are going to explore the typical living quarters in Beijing. The quadrangle, I will tell you something about FENGSHUI And the stories behind the quadrangle. What is the quadrangle? quadrangle is composed of one story houses in four directions With a courtyard in the center. it has Over 2000 years history in China， The biggest quadrangle in the world is the Forbidden City Which is located in the center of Beijing. This photo is the earliest remains of the quadrangle in China. Over 700 years ago. The mongolian conquered China. Kublai Khan built the Grand Capital in Beijing, It was called Dayidu In mongolian, Which means "where the Khan lived", It's called Khanbaliq in Turki. when Marco Polo traveled to the Grand Capital in 1275. Beijing, was considered as golden paradise on earth. When you are in Rome, do as romans do. When the mongolian ruled China. They did as their predecessor did. They copied the Chinese centralism which was based on Confucianism. the Grand Capital was designed according to the ancient book The Rite of Zhou 《考工记》 The Artificers' Record. Beijing was built as a chess board. There's a central axle line goes through the Khan's palace in the center. Government offices were located in the south of the palace and The markets were located on the North of the palace. The streets were 24 steps wide from south to North. The lanes were 12 steps wide from east to west, it's called Hutong. The quadrangles were just like the chess pieces on the board. The maximum length between each Hutong was about 70 meters, No one would like the public Hutong go through their quadrangles. So the biggest quadrangle was five layers. the quadrangle is also a product of the feudal hierarchy of ancient China, the emperor's palace was circled around by the quadrangles , they were in different sizes, the door, the wall,the step, the roof and the colored painting of the house were various according to the owner's ranking or social statue, so the quadrangles were not creative and looked very similar. Ok, here we are, Cao Xueqin's Memorial Hall, I will introduce the quadrangle first and tell his story later. you may know that most traditional Chinese architectures are symmetrical layout and have a central axis line, the gate or door is in the middle. why the door of the quadrangle is not in the middle but on the southeast corner of the courtyard? first, the narrow lanes, Hutong goes from east to west, the door on the south is easy to access to the neighbours second, because of Fengshui. the position of southeast is called Xun, symbolize Wind. easy in and easy out with help of wind, just like a sailboat. after we enter the door,this is the first layer of the quadrangle, we will find a screen wall in front. the screen wall is not only a decoration but a protection of the privacy of the family, it could block the strong cold wind blowing into the quadrangle. according to Fengshui, the evil spirits would come out at night and they always go straight, when they bumped the screen wall, they would turn around and go back. the screen wall could protect the family and keep the fortune of the family. on your right , there is a small room, normally it was the private school of the family. there is a moon gate on your left, we will visit that area later.let's go to the main courtyard first. this the second layer of the quadrangle . the main house is facing south and could obtain more sunshine, it's brighter and warmer than other houses, so the elders would live in the north house. it's the filial piety of traditional Chinese culture. the courtyard is spacious, so people could get more sunshine, the house is not very high, because winter is very cold in Beijing, the low house is good to keep people warm. the main house is located on north,it's the Kan position according to the Fengshui, it symbolize water, traditional Chinese architecture is made of wooden structure, so the water overcomes fire. the east wing-room is normally occupied by the eldest son of the family, because east is more honorable than west. the crown price lived in the east side of the Forbidden City. this room is furnished as a study. you can see the stationary on the table and calligraphy on the wall. we will take a look of the main room on the north. it's just a show room, but you can look around and see the wooden structure of the house. there is a long scroll of painting, you can see the original Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City looks like. the owner of the house is very famous in China, because he wrote a classical novel called "the Dream of Red Mansion" , it's based on his own life experience. long story short, it was a tragical love story and the decline of a Jia family.