English: (Siheyuan)
Pinyin: (Siheyuan)
Interpretation of "quadrangle" in Chinese-English dictionaries: 1. Siheyuan; Four-stage compound; Quadrilateral; A courtyard surrounded by traditional gray brick and tile houses in China; China's traditional rectangular courtyard; A courtyard surrounded by houses; A yard with houses around it
Siheyuan is the floorboard of traditional houses, with the main room and east-west wing surrounding the Intermediate People's Court to form a plane layout. It has the longest history and the widest distribution in China, and it is a typical form of Han folk houses. Its history has been more than 3000 years, and its form has begun to take shape in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The quadrangles in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Beijing and Hebei are the most representative.
In Beijing's hutongs, there are many quadrangles surrounded by houses in the east, south, west and north. This is a quadrilateral.
The gate of quadrangles is usually opened in the southeast corner or northwest corner. The north house in the yard is the first one, which is built on the masonry abutment, bigger than other houses, and it is the owner's living room. There are east and west wing rooms on both sides of the yard, where the younger generation live. There is a corridor between the main room and the wing room for people to walk and rest. The walls of quadrangles and houses facing the street generally do not open windows, and the environment in the courtyard is closed and quiet.
There are large and small quadrangles in Beijing, but no matter how big or small, they are all made up of quadrangles surrounded by houses on all sides. The simplest quadrangle has only one yard, while the more complicated one has two or three yards. The deep house compound where rich people live is usually composed of several quadrangles side by side. There is also a partition wall in the middle.
The typical characteristics of quadrangles are regular appearance, symmetrical midline and extremely flexible usage. They expand to large ones, that is, palaces and palaces, and shrink to small ones, that is, houses of ordinary people. The splendid Forbidden City and ordinary farmers' homes in the suburbs are quadrangles.
Siheyuan is generally distributed as gate, first courtyard, lobby, second courtyard, bookstore, residence and so on. There are wings on both sides, and each room has a corridor, which is connected by doors. Understanding folk houses on the surface will certainly promote and develop folk house culture.
Beijing quadrangle is an inner quadrangle surrounded by houses in the east, west, south and north. Beijing quadrangles, as the main architectural form that old Beijingers have lived in for generations, are well-known at home and abroad and all over the world.
First of all, it has a long history. Since Beijing was formally established as the capital in Yuan Dynasty, quadrangles and palaces, office buildings, blocks and hutongs in Beijing have appeared at the same time. According to Xiong's "Analysis" at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, "The metropolitan street system, the north and south are called meridians, and the east and west are called latitudes. The street is 24 steps wide, with 384 long lanes and 29 narrow lanes. "
Secondly, the composition of quadrangles has its uniqueness. Its courtyard is spacious, surrounded by independent houses and connected by verandahs, making it very convenient to live; Closed doors make quadrangles have strong privacy, and closed doors come from heaven and earth; All four doors in the courtyard are open to the courtyard, and home and music are beautiful; The spacious courtyard can also plant trees and flowers, feed birds and fish, and stack rocks and scenery to let residents enjoy the beautiful scenery of nature.
In addition, although quadrangles are residential buildings, they contain profound cultural connotations and are the carriers of China traditional culture. The construction of quadrangles pays great attention to geomantic omen and geomantic omen theory, which is actually an ancient architectural environmentology in China and an important part of China's traditional architectural theory. The decoration, sculpture and painting of quadrangles also reflect folk customs and traditional culture everywhere, showing people's pursuit of happiness, beauty, prosperity and auspiciousness, such as the pattern composed of bats and longevity characters, which means "longevity and happiness"; The Chinese rose pattern in the vase means "peace in the four seasons"; The auspicious words embedded in the door hairpin and the door head, the couplets stuck on the pillars and the masterpieces of calligraphy and painting hung indoors are all ancient teachings of the sages and philosophers. They use ancient and modern famous sentences, or praise the beauty of mountains and rivers, or learn to live in the world, or recite the ambition of a swan. They are elegant and full of rich cultural atmosphere, just like the halls of traditional culture in China.
siheyuan;?quadrangle?dwellings
Siheyuan, a square or rectangular courtyard, is a combined architectural form of residential buildings in northern China. A family, living in a closed yard, leads a comfortable, leisurely and quiet life, enjoys family happiness and naturally has a relaxed atmosphere.
This quadrangle was left over from the old society before the founding of New China, and it is still in use. This kind of quadrangle usually uses the door to enter and exit a quadrangle. Usually, when the gate is closed, it is in a completely closed state. Most of the courtyard doors of quadrangles use wooden doors. One end of the gate made of planks is placed in the shaft from top to bottom, which can be opened and closed, safe and reliable. In the quadrangle, there is the main room, which is the north room. This is the first room in the courtyard. Generally, the direction of quadrangles is to sit north to south. On the east and west sides, there are east and west wing rooms. The east and west wing rooms are generally symmetrical, and the building formats are generally the same or similar. There is a south building in the south, corresponding to the north building. Most of the quadrangles were built symmetrically according to the traditional "habits" of China. Of course, in the corner formed by the north-south and east-west rooms, there are wing rooms. Some of these wings are used to store grain, become warehouses such as grain depots, and some are used as kitchens. There is also a corner, usually the southwest corner is the toilet, while the southeast corner is mostly the gate of the yard. This quadrangle scheme is more common in the county town of Shanxi and its nearby countryside. In some places, there are courtyards with the gates facing south.
Some families, in order to decorate the courtyard, also build a shadow wall, that is, a brick wall, directly opposite the entrance of the courtyard. On the side facing the gate, flowers, pine and bamboo patterns or large calligraphy characters are usually placed on the front of the screen wall. Write auspicious words such as "Fu", "Lu" and "Shou". There are also some screen walls painted with auspicious patterns, such as "Song Yan He Nian", "Magpie Climbing Plums" and "Kirin Sending Children", which create a scholarly atmosphere of the quadrangle. Some farmers also use words or pictures such as "bumper harvests", "good luck" and "happiness as the East China Sea". This kind of screen wall is located at the entrance of the gate, some are built separately, and some are embedded in the gable of the wing. The screen wall, also known as the screen wall, is square, surrounded by brick carvings, and the square in the middle is calligraphy or painting. Zhaobi is divided into two parts: the base and the wall. In addition to adding atmosphere to the courtyard and praying for good luck, the wall also plays an isolation role, making it difficult for the outside world to peep at the activities in the courtyard.
In the yard, there are different kinds of floors, such as slates, bricks and pebbles. The ground in the yard has been paved, and the main passage has been paved. No matter how it is paved, there are always some places in the yard where trees and flowers can be planted as an ornament of the yard.
With the development of the times, many changes have taken place in the present architecture. In rural areas, most of them have undergone great evolution on the basis of the original quadrangles. That is to expand the number of rooms in the main room, because the main room-the north room has good lighting. Therefore, when building a house, make full use of the space and ground in the north as much as possible to make the courtyard irregular. The north house is the main house, and a square or rectangular courtyard is formed in front of the main house.
The allocation of houses in quadrangles is very strict, and the principal rooms in the courtyard with superior location should be given to the grandparents and wives of the older generation.
Only one of the three rooms in the north room is open to the public, which is called the main room. The two rooms on both sides only opened the door of the hall to form a suite, which became a pattern of light and shade. The main hall is the place where family members live, entertain relatives or worship ancestors on New Year's Day, and there are many bedrooms on both sides.
The bedrooms on both sides of the east and west also have the distinction of honour and inferiority. Under monogamy and polygamy ('polygamy' is a misunderstanding; In ancient times, there was only one wife, and there could be multiple concubines:' one wife, two flats and four biases'). The east side was distinguished and lived in the principal room, while the west side was humble and lived in the side room.
East-west wing-can open the door alone, or communicate with the main room, generally used as a bedroom or study. Both the East Wing and the West Wing are occupied by the younger generation. The wing is also light and dark, with a living room in the middle and bedrooms on both sides.
You can also separate a room on the south side for use as a kitchen or restaurant. Back-built houses-quadrangles of medium or above often have back military houses or back Gai Lou, mainly for unmarried women or maids.
Siheyuan is an independent courtyard, which consists of the main room (usually the north room), the east wing, the west wing and the south wing. Sometimes there are east and west wing rooms next to the main house, and there are verandahs connecting the houses on all sides to avoid the wind and rain.
Hutongs in Beijing are generally east-west, mainly for retaining people. The courtyard gate in the north of hutong generally opens in the southeast corner of the courtyard, and the courtyard gate in the south generally opens in the west corner of the courtyard. Siheyuan is a typical residential form in Beijing.
Generally, quadrangles have two courtyards, and the big ones have three or four courtyards and gardens. The two courtyards generally build a partition wall between the east wing and the west wing, and the outhouse generally houses staff. Luxury hanging doors are generally built between the inner and outer rooms, and there is a shadow wall in the hanging door, which is only opened when there is a major event. In the old society, ladies in large houses were not allowed to go out, and the second door was not allowed, which means that domestic servants were generally not allowed to enter this door. Street gates are relatively simple, and street gates are generally built on the left side of the yard. The last row of main rooms in the big quadrangle is the back building.
Old Beijingers are more particular. For example, they can't plant locust trees in front of the courtyard, because a bug fell from locust trees in the past, commonly known as eating goods. They are worried that passers-by will say, "Why are there so many foodies here?" Because mulberry trees are homophonic with "mourning", they are not planted beside the courtyard. People in Beijing love to plant oleanders in the yard.
Siheyuan is a traditional residential form in Beijing. It took shape at the beginning of Liao Dynasty, and gradually improved in Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and finally became the most distinctive residential form in Beijing.
The so-called four in one, "four" means east, west, south and north, and "combination" means that all houses are surrounded together to form a "mouth" shape. After hundreds of years of construction, Beijing quadrangles have formed a unique Beijing style from plane layout to internal structure and detail decoration.
Regular quadrangles in Beijing generally face south according to the east-west hutongs. The basic shape is the north room (main room), the south room (inverted room) and the east and west rooms, which are separated on all sides and surrounded by high walls to form a four-in-one and open a door. The gate is located in the southeast corner of the house. Generally, there are 3 rooms in the north room, 5 rooms in the front room, 3 rooms in the east room, 3 rooms in the west room and 4 rooms in the south room, including door openings and hanging doors *** 17. If each room 1 1- 12 square meters, the total area is about 200 square meters. There is a yard in the middle of the yard, which is very spacious. There are flowers and trees in the courtyard and goldfish in the fish tank. It is the center of the courtyard layout, and it is also the place where people walk, light, ventilate, enjoy the cool, rest and do housework.
Although quadrangles have certain regulations, they vary in size and can be roughly divided into three types: large quadrangles, medium quadrangles and small quadrangles:
1, small quadrangles are generally three rooms in the north, one bright and two dark or two bright and one dark, two rooms in the east and west wing and three rooms in the south wing. Bricklaying to the top, roof tile house. Can live in a family of three generations, the ancestors live in the main room, the younger generation lives in the wing, and the south room is used as a study or living room. The yard is paved with a brick tunnel, which connects all the doors, and there are steps in front of each door. There are two doors, decorated with black paint and oil, with a pair of brass cymbals and couplets on the doors.
The quadrangle in the middle is more spacious than the small quadrangle. Generally, there are 5 rooms in the north house, 3 rooms in the front house and 2 rooms in the east and west house. There is a corridor in front of the house to avoid the wind and rain. In addition, the courtyard walls are divided into front yard (outer yard) and backyard (inner yard), and the courtyard walls are connected by the moon gate. The front yard is deep and humble, one or two houses are doormen, and the backyard is residential. Exquisite architecture, brick floor and bluestone steps.
3. Large quadrangles are customarily called "big houses". Houses can be located in five south and five north, seven south and seven north, or even nine rooms 1 1, which are generally compound quadrangles, that is, they are formed by deep connection of multiple quadrangles. There are many courtyards, including front yard, backyard, east yard, west yard, main yard, side yard, cross yard, study yard, enclosed house yard, horse number, first entrance, second entrance, third entrance and so on. There is a handwritten veranda in the yard connecting various places, covering a huge area. If the floors available for building are narrow, or the economic bearing capacity is unbearable, the quadrangle can be changed into a three-story quadrangle instead of the south building.
Small and medium-sized quadrangles are generally the houses of ordinary residents, and the big four-in-one is a mansion and official residence.
The quadrangles in Beijing are made of brick and wood, purlins, columns, beams (rafters), sills, rafters, doors and windows, partitions, etc. are all made of wood, and the walls around the wooden shelves are made of brick. Beams, doors, windows and rafters should be painted with colored pictures. Although they are not as brilliant as the palace gardens, they are also colorful. Walls are used to building walls with floor bricks and broken bricks. As the saying goes, "there are three treasures in Beijing ... rotten bricks can't build walls." Most of the roof tiles are blue tiles, which are interlocking. Before the eaves are dripped, or the tiles are not laid, all the roofs are painted with blue ash, which is called "grey shed".
The quadrangular gate generally occupies the area of a room, and the parts are quite complicated. Only the names are gatehouse, doorway, gate (door leaf), door frame, waist seal, plug, walking board, door pillow, sill, threshold, door pin, big edge, plastering, threading, door core plate and door cymbal.
The gate is generally black oil, and red oil and black couplets can be added. Into the gate, there are hanging flower doors, moon doors and so on. Hanging flower door is the most gorgeous decorative door in quadrangles. It is called "hanging flowers" because the eaves of the door are arched to separate the inner and outer courtyards. Outside the door is the living room, concierge, garage and other "outhouses", while inside the door is the bedroom "inner room" where the master lives.
If there is no hanging door, you can use the moon door to separate the inner and outer rooms. The hanging door is beautifully painted, the eaves and rafters are painted blue-green, the rosewood is oily red, the round rafters are painted blue, white and black, and the square rafters are painted gold or diamond on the blue background. The center of the front eaves is decorated with brocade, flowers and Bo Gu. The lotus stigma hanging upside down on both sides is painted in colors according to the carved pattern.
The carved patterns of quadrangles are mainly auspicious patterns, such as "longevity and happiness" composed of bats and longevity figures, "peace in the four seasons" implied by vases with Chinese roses, and "generation after generation", "three friends in cold years", "jade pond is rich" and "happy life", which show the longing of old Beijingers for a better life.
Windows and sill walls are embedded in the large frame between the upper sill (without lower sill) and the left and right columns. The upper window frame can be supported, while the lower window frame is usually fixed. In winter, Korean paper or cellophane is often used to stick windows, which are bright inside and dark outside, which can not only prevent the invasion of cold air, but also keep sufficient indoor light. Stick a window screen or cold cloth on the window in summer. This is a window screen made of wood in various counties in southern Beijing. It looks like cloth instead of cloth, which can provide ventilation and relieve indoor heat. Add a piece of paper outside the cold cloth, roll it up during the day and put it down at night, so it is also called "rolling window". Some people use a window with an upper branch and a lower branch.
There are many sandstorms in Beijing in winter and spring, and door curtains are often used in residential buildings. Generally speaking, people hang a cotton curtain with plywood in winter, a sandwich curtain with plywood in spring and autumn, and a bamboo curtain with plywood in summer. Poor families can use grass curtains or broken felt curtains. The door curtain can be hung, and the purpose of installing plywood on the upper, middle and lower parts is to increase the weight and not be lifted by the wind. Later, the door curtain was replaced by an air door, but bamboo curtain was still used in summer, which was cool, bright and practical.
The ceilings of quadrangles are all made of sorghum stalks and covered with paper. Beijing ceiling pasting is a technology. In the quadrangle, the ceiling, walls, curtains and windows are all covered with white paper, which is called "Four Whites in the End". Ordinary people go there once every few years, while rich people go there four times a year.
It is very cold in winter in Beijing. The residents in the quadrangle all sleep on the kang. There is a coal stove buried underground in front of the kang, and a fire is built in the stove. When the kang is empty and the fire enters the kang hole, the kang bed will heat up and people will feel warm when sleeping on the hot kang. Most of the coal used to burn kang is produced in Xishan, Beijing. There is a difference between raw coal and pulverized coal. Coal powder and loess are shaken with coal balls to burn kang or cook.
Indoor heating uses stoves, which can be divided into mud, iron and copper according to texture. Clay stoves are made of Guo Kuimu made in Beijing. They are highly breathable, light in weight and easy to move. Rich families always have several stoves. Generally, people use the fire in front of the kang to cook instead of starting a new stove. The so-called "pot and platform are connected to the stove", so it is difficult to separate life from daily life. The stove can be used in bank up, so it is always kept in case of emergency. If it goes out, burn it with dry wood and charcoal. Housewives will take the stove outside the house every morning to make a fire (to prevent gas poisoning), which will become a scene in Beijing.
The discharge of domestic water in quadrangles is mostly in the form of seepage pits, commonly known as "seepage wells" and "seepage ditches". Siheyuan generally has no toilets, and toilets are mostly located in hutongs, which are called "official houses".
Beijing quadrangles pay attention to greening, and there are flowers and trees in the courtyard, which is really elegant and pleasant. The favorite flowers in old Beijing are lilac, begonia, elm leaf plum, peach blossom and so on, and the trees are mostly jujube and locust trees. In addition to planting flowers and plants, you can also plant plants and water them.
The most common potted flowers and trees are pomegranate, oleander, Jingui, Yin Gui, Rhododendron, Gardenia and so on. Planting pomegranate is a sign of "many children". As for the grass jasmine, impatiens, morning glory and flat bean curd in the garden before the hospital, it is the daily beauty of the courtyard.
There is a saying in Qing Dynasty that describes the life in quadrangles: "ceiling, fish tank, pomegranate tree, grandfather, fat dog, fat girl", which can be said to be a typical portrayal of quadrangle life.
Siheyuan is generally a family living in one yard, but there are also cases where many families share one yard, mostly poor families, which are called "mixed living". The warmth of the buildings makes many old Beijingers unforgettable.
The courtyard gate of the old Beijing quadrangle
The courtyard gate is the main entrance of the quadrangle, which Beijingers used to call "street gate". In today's rapidly changing world, it is difficult for these street gates to judge the level of hospital owners. Wandering in the streets shaded by green trees, many old street doors have become silent history, which brings you endless association and enlightenment silently, just like an old man of a century, telling you his early stories with a trembling voice.
Among the many quadrangle doors in Beijing, they can be roughly divided into two categories, namely, residential doors and wall-mounted doors. The former has doorways, and the door occupies one room; The latter has no doorway and only opens the door on the wall. Specifically, the gatehouse style is divided into Wang Fu Gate, Liangguang Gate and Ruyi Gate. There are small gatehouses and doors along the wall.
Let's talk about this palace gate first. In the Qing Hui Dian, the previous residential titles were clearly stipulated: "All the residences of princes, county kings, princes, Baylor, Beizi, Zhen Guogong and Fu Guogong are called fu." Among them, the residence of the prince and the county king is called Wang Fu. As for those dignitaries who are not phoenix dragons and grandchildren, although they have titles, or titles of ministers, university students and military ministers, their residences cannot be called "houses", but only "houses" or "offices". In terms of property rights, "house" and "palace" are both royal property. Once the title is removed, the luxury house should be removed accordingly for future distribution, and "luxury house" is generally private property.
As far as the gate of Wang Fu is concerned, there are five Prince Mi counties and three Wang Fu counties, all of which face south. There is a door cover in front of the door (a house with doors, windows and walls), and the aisle is higher than the ground. There is a corner door in the east and west of the mansion, both of which are called Asmen, for people to enter and leave. In Fang Rui in the Qing Dynasty, "Notes on Jiao Xuan" said: "There are two doors on the left and right of the main entrance of the foreign government, called the East Corner Gate and the West Corner Gate. When officials at lower levels visit, they all enter through the corner gate." The setting of the corner gate allows the gate to be closed on weekdays or opened according to the situation, which is designed for the need of etiquette. There are stone lions, lampposts, horse nails, grass trees (called walking horses in ancient times) and other facilities outside the mansion. Opposite the government gate is the screen wall. If the two Simon are east-west and can enter, there must be a square yard, so there are a pair of stone lions in front of the mansion, so it is also called "lion yard". Where is this pattern? Opposite the government gate is not a screen wall, but a row of bungalows, where soldiers used to live, or where things are put.
The number, decoration, color, etc of rooms. The gates of Wang Fu were built according to the regulations. "Prince Mi is a green glazed tile, with three gold nails for each door and two for the Prince's House." Baylor House is the main entrance, and the door is open. The roof of the main entrance of Wang Fu is made of tiles, with large ridges, kissing beasts and fairy beasts on the vertical ridges, gutters on the gable walls, red painted doors and colorful paintings on the beams.
In Ye Guangqin's novel "Picking Mulberry Seeds", the face of a palace gate is described: "When you turn into the erhu, a huge red painted gate comes into view. The gate is closed, the steps are high, and the stones are installed. Because no one has left for a long time, thin grass has grown in front of the steps, and most of the stones on horseback have been buried in the soil. The eight-character brick screen wall opposite the gate is worn out ... this is the residence of Prince Passadoro. "
In contrast, the description of A Dream of Red Mansions is more specific. In the third paragraph, there is a passage: "After a long time, I suddenly saw two big stone lions squatting in the north of the street, and three animal heads ... The main entrance was not opened, only the east and west gates entered and exited. There is a plaque above the main entrance. There are five characters on the plaque, "Jianning Guofu" ... not far to the west, but there are still three doors, which are Guo Rongfu. " According to the description of the big stone lion in the article, this gate should be regarded as the pattern of the Prince's Mansion in the Qing Dynasty. But there should be a "lion courtyard" in front of such a palace. Lions should not be placed near the street, but at the east and west corner gates. Like Zheng, Li and Ding in Qing Dynasty, the stone lions in the mansion are all at the corner gate.
Someone asked, Renmin University in Zhang Zizhong Road, why is the stone lion in front of the gate facing the street, rather than the former palace? That's because there was no road here, but it was opened later.
After talking about Wang Fu Gate, let's talk about Liang Guangmen. "Bright", as the name implies, should mean spacious and bright, which is relative to the shorter courtyard doors such as the small gatehouse next to it.