3. The Artistic Treatment of the Architectural Image-sequel I

Ancient Chinese artisans ingeniously made the heavy roofs of buildings look light and graceful by forming the ridges and eaves into curves, and making the four corners stick up. The style of a roof can be divided into four basic types: fudian (wings), xieshan (hip and gable), xuanshan (suspended gable) and yingshan (hard gable), which denote a roof with a single layer, several layers, four corners and many corners. All these make the huge roof an important component of ancient Chinese architecture with an outstanding artistic image.

In order to impart lightness and grace to pillars, the diameters of the upper ends or both ends of upright pillars are slightly reduced, making them look like weaving shuttles. Beneath the pillars, stone foundations are needed to prevent humidity from underground eroding the wooden pillars. The foundations are often carved with decorative patterns. With the same purpose in mind, the two ends of the beams and crossbeams are given downward-pointing curves, giving them the shape of a crescent moon; thus they are called "crescent roof beams." The protruding parts of the roof beams are carved into various patterns, such as branches and leaves, and geometric figures.

The entrance doors of ancient structures are mostly made of wood with several upright wood boards connected side by side by horizontal wooden planks attached to them by iron nails. The heads of the iron nails are arranged on the doors in a regular order, and the color of the nail heads is different from that of the doors, which make them a special decoration. In addition, the knockers and handle rings on the doors are themselves made into ornaments bearing different patterns. It was only with the advent of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that glass was installed in windows, replacing white paper. To make the pasting of the paper easier, wooden window lattices forming various complicated patterns, including geometric figures and plants, were installed.

As for open-air terraces and their balustrades, whether made of stones or bricks, their foundations, the partitions between each balustrade, the column heads of the balustrades and other components are all carved with artistic decorations. Even the bricks and stones left over after the construction of houses are pieced together into different designs according to their shapes and colors, to decorate the grounds around the houses.