中国古建筑及其故事(英文版)

在7000年的历史长河中，中国劳动人民创造出独特的建筑结构、建筑技巧及建筑哲学，与西方建筑形成鲜明的对比。中国建筑之美无与伦比，而其精髓往往透过砖瓦，隐藏在历史故事之中。《中国古建筑及其故事》介绍了近50处中国历史建筑，其中包括“秦皇陵”“岳阳楼”“山西民居”等，为读者开启了通往中国古代王朝的历史之门。

Ancient Chinese architecture is an integral part of the rich and time-honored Chinese culture and an important component of the world architectural system. It is most famous for the Great Wall, but there are so much more. In 7,000 years, Chinese people developed unique architectural philosophies, structures and techniques that are very different from their counterparts in other places of the world. While Chinese architectural beauty is a feast for the eyes, the soul of ancient Chinese construction usually lies in the historical stories behind the walls. In this book, the authors will guide you as you knock on the gate of this ancient kingdom.

张慈贇，国内资深英文媒体人，高级编辑，享受国务院政府特殊津贴。曾就读于美国斯坦福大学，获硕士学位。长期从事英文新闻工作，参与《中国日报》的创办，主持创办《上海日报》《北京周末报》《上海英文星报》，均任第*任总编辑。现为中国翻译协会常务理事。曾在国内外报刊上发表大量新闻报道、特写、评论和专栏文章。

Born in Shanghai in 1949, ZHANG Ciyun (Peter) is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Shanghai Daily, a leading regional English-language daily newspaper on the Chinese mainland. He is also a prolific translator and writer.

Mr. Zhang graduated from Jilin Normal University in China, majoring in English language, and later from Stanford University in the United States with a master’s degree in journalism. 

Starting from 1980, he had worked in several news agencies in China and helped bring into existence four English-language newspapers, including China Daily and Shanghai Daily. 

故宫 (gù gōng)

The Palace Museum

Forbidden City — the dragon’s jewel

阿房宫 (ē páng gōng)

Epang Palace

Grandest palace remained a dream

布达拉宫 (bù dá lā gōng)

Potala Palace

The tallest ancient palace

大明宫 (dà míng gōng)

Daming Palace

Once world’s largest imperial palace

皇家坛庙 (huáng jiā tán miào)

Imperial Temples

Imperial temples, altars dot Beijing

颐和园 (yí hé yuán)

Summer Palace

A best preserved imperial park

圆明园 (yuán míng yuán)

Old Summer Palace

‘Versailles of East’ destroyed in war

华清池 (huá qīng chí)

Huaqing Pool

A pool where power and lust collide

秦皇陵 (qín huáng líng)

Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang

Grand Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor

乾陵 (qián líng)

Qianling Mausoleum

China’s only empress rests at Qianling Mausoleum

十三陵 (shí sān líng)

The Ming Tombs

Thirteen emperors’ burial sites ‘masterpieces’

长城 (cháng chéng)

The Great Wall

One of the Eight Wonders of the World

西安城墙 (xī’ān chéng qiáng)

The Xi’an City Wall

A paradigm of ancient Chinese city walls

苏州城墙 (sū zhōu chéng qiáng)

The Suzhou City Wall

A most sophisticated and very effective denfense system

登封观星台 (dēng fēng guān xīng tái)

Dengfeng Observatory

Tower used to make age’s best calendar

岳阳楼 (yuè yáng lóu)

Yueyang Tower

Once the most magnificant tower in China

白马寺 (bái mǎ sì)

White Horse Temple

Dream led to China’s first Buddhist temple

悬空寺 (xuán kōng sì)

The Hanging Temple

Ancient architects produce spectacular mountain temple

五台山 (wǔ tái shān)

Mount Wutai

Temple mount full of treasures

大昭寺 (dà zhāo sì)

The Jokhang Temple

Tibet’s sacred monastery a living relic

应县木塔 (yīng xiàn mù tǎ)

The Sakyamuni Pagoda

World’s oldest and tallest wood tower

大理三塔 (dà lǐ sān tā)

Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple

Yunnan’s Buddhist gems offer quiet beauty

莫高窟 (mò gāo kū)

Mogao Grottoes

Spiritual, artistic and architectural wonders

化觉巷清真寺(huà jué xiàng qīng zhēn sì)

The Great Mosque of Xi’an

Mosque built with distinctive Chinese features

苏公塔礼拜寺 (sū gōng tǎ lǐ bài sì)

Emin Minaret Mosque

A towering symbol of Islam

永乐宫 (yǒng lè gōng)

The Palace of Eternal Joy

Huge Taoist temple a shrine of extremely beautiful murals

四合院 (sì hé yuàn)

Beijing Courtyard House

Traditional dwellings designed with care

皖南民居 (wǎn nán mín jū)

Southern Anhui Village Residences

Anhui’s rural gems of home building

石库门 (shí kù mén)

Stone-Framed-Gate House

City lanes fuse Chinese, Western styles

窑洞 (yáo dòng)

Cave House

Northern China’s cave houses last centuries

山西民居 (shān xī mín jū)

Shanxi Courtyard House

Ancient Shanxi houses strong yet elaborate

客家民居 (kè jiā mín jū)

Hakka Walled Village

Walled villages built for families, defense

干栏式房屋 (gān lán shì fáng wū)

Stilt House

Building a home above land or water

骑楼 (qí lóu)

Arcade Building

Veranda-style buildings populate the south

开平碉楼 (kāi píng diāo lóu)

Kaiping Tower

Guangdong towers show Western influence

豫园 (yù yuán)

Yuyuan Garden

Classic garden a place of rare tranquility

苏州林园 (sū zhōu lín yuán)

Classic Gardens of Suzhou

Creating harmony between man and nature

岭南园林 (lǐng nán yuán lín)

Lingnan Gardens

Southern Chinese gardens open, natural

梁桥 (liáng qiáo)

Beam Bridge

Bridge building in China spans 6,000 years

拱桥 (gǒng qiáo)

Arch Bridge

Arch bridges combine function and beauty

悬索桥 (xuán suǒ qiáo)

Suspension Bridge

Providing a connection through history

书院 (shū yuàn)

Academy of Classic Learning

Shuyuan designs show beauty of simplicity

会馆 (huì guǎn)

Guild Hall

Ancient homes from home

曲阜孔子庙 (qū fù kǒng zǐ miào)

Temple of Confucius, Qufu

Much thought went into philosopher’s temple

祠堂 (cí táng)

Ancestral Temple

Homes for those no longer of this world

The Palace Museum

Forbidden City — the dragon’s jewel

Located in the middle of Beijing, the Forbidden City is without dispute the largest and most grandiose imperial palace in the world today.

From the early years of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), the palace served as the home of 24 Chinese emperors as well as the political center of China’s government for nearly 500 years.

When Zhu Di, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, came to the throne in 1402, he decided to move the capital from Nanjing, now the capital of Jiangsu Province in east China, to Beijing in order to better defend the northern territory of the country against tribal invasions.

The construction of the Forbidden City started in 1406 and was completed in 1420. It turned out to be a gargantuan complex with more than 870 buildings and a combined floor space of about 8,700 jian (an ancient Chinese spatial unit) or nearly 150,000 square meters.

The rectangle-shaped imperial compound covered 720,000 square meters. It is surrounded by a high crimson wall and a 52-meter-wide moat.

The buildings in the imperial compound, also with crimson walls as well as tall roofs covered with golden glazed tiles, were almost all built of wood and bricks, with many sitting on extensive and exquisitely carved marble platforms. The wood used in the construction was mostly precious nanmu found in southwest China and the floors of many halls were paved with specially baked “golden” bricks.

The beams, columns and rafters in these buildings were exquisitely painted, carved or decorated, particularly with various variations of dragon, the symbol of Chinese emperors.

The north-south axis of the compound extends all the way to the south to the Tian’anmen Gate Rostrum and Tian’anmen Square, the center of Beijing today.

The compound itself is divided into two parts, with the southern half (called the outer court or the front court) used by emperors for ceremonial purposes and the northern half (called the inner court or the back palace) serving as the residence of the imperial families as well as the site for handling daily affairs of state.

Of all the buildings in the Forbidden City, the 35-meter-high Taihedian or the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the largest and most majestic. Sitting on a three-tier marble terrace, the hall covers a space of 30,000 square meters. It was the place where the emperor received officials and exercised his supreme power over the nation.

As a result, the Hall of Supreme Harmony had always been deemed as the symbol of supreme imperial power in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In addition to dozens of grandiose halls and pavilions, the compound also boasts a private garden that was specially designed for the imperial family. Covering an area of 12,000 square meters, the garden, called Yuhuayuan or Imperial Garden, was filled with ancient trees, exotic rockeries, flowerbeds and bronze incense burners.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty during the 1911 Revolution, the Forbidden City was turned into a museum. In 1987, it was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Today, the Forbidden City is called the Palace Museum, housing more than 1 million items of art, including paintings, pottery, carvings, bronze wares and rare documents. The Forbidden City represents the pinnacle of ancient Chinese architecture and for several centuries following its completion, it exercised great influence over the evolution of architecture not only in China, but also in many other countries in East Asia.

Pictorial dictionary

间 bay

When used in terms of buildings or structures, the Chinese character 间 usually means a room today.

But in ancient China, it was used as a basic spatial unit of a building defined by four columns.

However, the distance between two columns or the bay width could vary according to the social status of the owner of a specific building.

For instance, for ordinary people, the bay width of their houses usually could not exceed one 丈 or about 3.3 meters. And it became wider in houses built for people of higher social status or government ranking.

For imperial palaces, such as the Forbidden City in Beijing, the bay width could reach more than 1.7 zhang or 5.8 meters.

So, when you hear people say that the Forbidden City contains 9,999 and a half jian, it doesn’t mean that there are that many “rooms” in the palace, but rather the term here is used to describe the extremely extensive floor space of the buildings in the imperial compound.

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