Architecture, Vernacular—China
China has a variety of climates and land-forms as well as fifty-six diverse ethnic groups in an area nearly equal to that of the United States. Consequently China's vernacular architecture appears at first glance bewildering in variety. However, a closer examination reveals remarkably similar elements in layout and materials across space and through time. The ubiquitous, simple I-shaped dwellings are complemented by strikingly distinctive buildings of great complexity. Structures include extraordinarily beautiful centuries-old dwelling complexes built for merchants, quadrangular residences in the Beijing area, massive multistoried fortresses in the hilly south, and unique below-ground cave-like dwellings in the north, as well as tents and pile dwellings occupied by minority populations in remote areas of the country.
Divisions of Space
Throughout China, houses exhibit a limited range of conventional spatial forms in their plan and general layout. These fundamental building elements are rooted deeply in Chinese building traditions, and they have influenced the spatial conceptualization and building traditions of Japan and Korea as well. Chinese builders are attentive not only to structures—that is, enclosures with a roof—but also to open spaces for living, working, and leisure activities. The common denominator of any Chinese building, whether opulent palace or humble home, is a modular unit known as jian, a fundamental measure of width, the span between two lateral columns that constitutes a bay.
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