Ancient Chinese wooden architecture

Ancient Chinese wooden architecture is the least studied of any of the world's great architectural traditions from the western point of view, and its study is relatively new. Although Chinese architectural history reaches back nearly ten millennia, descriptions of Chinese architecture is often confined to the well known Forbidden City and little else is explored in the west Although even common features of Chinese architecture have been unified into a vocabulary illustrating uniquely Chinese forms and methods, until recently data has not been available. Because of the lack of knowledge of the roots of Chinese architecture, description of its elements is often translated into Western terms and architectural theory, losing its unique Chinese meanings. Generations of builders and craftsmen recorded their work and the collectors who collated the information into building standards and Qing Architecture Standards were widely available, in fact strictly mandated, and passed down. This recording of practices led to the transmitting through the generations the unique system of construction that became a body of unique architectural characteristics.

However, the dependence on text for archaeological descriptions has yielded to the realization that archaeological excavations by the People's Republic of China now provides superior visual evidence of Chinese daily life and ceremonies from the Neolithic times to the more recent centuries. For example, the excavation of tombs has provided evidence to produce facsimiles of wooden building parts and yielded site plans several thousand years old.

As the villages and towns grew they adhered to a symmetrical shapes. the importance of centrality in the layout of homes, alters, and villages.
In traditional Chinese architecture, every facet of a building was decorated using various materials and techniques. Simple ceiling
ornamentations in ordinary buildings were made of wooden strips and covered with paper. More decorative was the ceiling, constructed of woven wooden strips or sorghum stems fastened to the beams.

''Dougong'' is a unique structural element of interlocking wooden , one of the most important elements in traditional architecture. It first appeared in buildings of the late centuries BC and evolved into a structural network that joined pillars and columns to the frame of the roof. ''Dougong'' was widely used in the Spring and Autumn Period and developed into a complex set of interlocking parts by its peak in the and periods. Since the ancient times when the Chinese first began to use wood for building, has been a major focus and craftsmen cut the wooden pieces to fit so perfectly that no or fasteners are ever necessary.

Decorative roof and ceiling

In traditional Chinese architecture, every facet of a building was decorated using various materials and techniques. Simple ceiling ornamentations in ordinary buildings were made of wooden strips and covered with paper. More decorative was the ceiling, constructed of woven wooden strips or sorghum stems fastened to the beams. Because of the intricacy of its ornamentation, elaborate cupolas were reserved for the ceilings of the most important structures such as tombs and altars, although it is not clear what the spiritual beliefs of the early Chinese were, as alters appear to have served as burial sites.

The of the has a coffer in the flat-topped, vaulted ceiling in the back chamber of her tomb. The Baoguo Temple in Yuyao in Zhejiang has three cupolas in the ceiling, making it unique among surviving examples of .

Sanquing Hall is the only period structure with three cupolas in its ceiling.