What is the gatehouse in Bai architecture? What's special about it?

The gatehouse is the gate, and the Bai people attach great importance to architecture and decoration. The direction of the gate, the east of the main house is generally opened in the northeast corner, and the south of the main house is generally opened in the southeast corner. The gate should not face the main room. Generally, after entering the gate, you have to turn a corner from west to south to enter the hospital. If you can't avoid it because of the terrain conditions, you should build a wall as a shelter after entering the door and enter the courtyard from both sides of the wall.

The gates of Bai buildings all have gatehouses; There are two architectural forms of the gatehouse; One is the Xiamen Tower, which is called "three drops of water" by the people. Its architecture has a long history, mature construction technology and fixed format. Generally, it is a three-story building, which is divided into "turret" and "flat-headed building".

Turning means that there are two upturned wing angles at the top of the gatehouse, and a bucket arch under the eaves, which is extremely gorgeous and colorful. The decoration of the bucket arch is magnificent with wood or clay sculpture. Most of the jumping heads at both ends of the barrel arch are carved into patterns such as "dragon, phoenix, rabbit, elephant and flower". Bucket bowls are carved into eight-treasure lotus flowers, decorated with colored paint, or with the natural color of wood, highlighting the essence of carving art, and some are decorated with colored gold-plated paint, which is even more colorful. The bucket arch under the lower wing angle is smaller than that on the top floor, and the carved awn is similar to that on the upper floor.

Below the bucket arch is a splayed wall lined with empty flowers and marble. Marble has colorful patterns and famous poems. This kind of gatehouse is mostly the mansion of the rich and official families.

The flat-headed Xiamen building is mostly a traditional "three drops of water" roof with Xiamen doors. The bucket arch is relatively simple and pays attention to painting and decoration. The door downstairs is a gray powder wall with various patterns, simple and generous. This kind of gatehouse is mostly adopted by rural Bai residents.

The other is that there is no Xiamen building, but brick carving, clay sculpture and brick carving are used to build and decorate it. The roof of the door is exposed to water, which is an ordinary sloping roof type, so it is also called "three drops of water gate house". Its characteristics are simple and generous, adopted by ordinary houses, and the architectural form is not fixed, which is still developing and changing.