The screen wall is a unique part of ancient Chinese traditional architecture. It is a wall placed in front of the door of the house.
The screen wall can be located inside the gate or outside the gate. The former is called the inner screen wall and the latter is called the outer screen wall. The shape can be one-shaped, eight-shaped, etc. It is usually made of bricks and consists of three parts: base, body and top. The base has a Xumi base or a simple one without a base.
The central area of ??the wall is called the core of the screen wall. It is usually made of square bricks placed at an angle of 45 degrees. A simpler screen wall may not have much decoration, but the bricks must be polished and the seams must be very neat. , luxurious screen walls are usually decorated with brick carvings with many auspicious patterns.
The brick carvings on the wall are mainly in the center and four corners of the central area, and there are also Hunxiao and Lianzhu at the intersection with the roof. There is a central flower carved on one side of the central square brick, and a brick plaque with the Chinese character "Fu Shou" or brick carvings with auspicious meanings is inlaid in the center of the screen wall.
Extended information
In terms of form, there are five types of screen walls:
One is the glazed screen wall, which is mainly used in palaces and temple buildings and is the most representative. The most famous ones are the Forbidden City and the Nine Dragon Wall in Beihai.
The second type is the brick screen wall, which appears in large numbers in folk architecture and is the most important form of traditional Chinese screen walls. Some of the Xumizuo that screen the walls are carved from stone, but they are extremely rare.
The third type is the stone screen wall. The iron screen wall moved to Beihai Park is entirely made of stone and is rarely seen among the people.
The fourth type is wooden screen walls. Since wooden materials cannot withstand long-term wind and sun exposure, they are generally relatively rare.
The fifth type of screen wall has a brick or adobe structure. The wall is completely covered with hemp ash, and the surface is plain and colored. Some of them are carved with brick patterns or characters. There are not a few of this type of screen wall.