Thearchitecture of the Song dynasty encompasses structures built inChina from 960 to 1279, and includes toweringBuddhistpagodas,temple halls,pavilions,gardens, stone and wooden bridges, lavish tombs, andextravagant palaces.Song dynasty architects inherited ideas, methods, and traditions from previous dynasties such as theTang andLater Zhou, though with stylistic changes, especially with thegrowth of the economy and blurring of residential and commercial areas in urban districts. Although manytimber structures built during this era no longer survive, much is known about the layout ofKaifeng (Bianjing), capital city of theNorthern Song (960–1127), andHangzhou (Lin'an), capital city of theSouthern Song (1127–1279), due toart andliterature. Wooden buildings were the most prevalent, but stone, brick, andrammed earth structures were also built.
Architectural knowledge in China had been passed down orally for thousands of years, usually from craftsman fathers to their sons. There were also government agencies and schools for construction, building, and engineering. The professions ofarchitect,master craftsman,carpenter, andstructural engineer did not have thehigh status of theConfucianscholar-officials. However, some statesmen were commissioned by theemperor to oversee construction projects, such asSu Song for hisastronomical clocktower erected in Kaifeng. Scholar-officials such asOuyang Xiu designed and built their own private gardens, and the written works of architects such asYu Hao were appreciated by someChinese literati. Song architectural trends not only impacted laterChinese dynasties but also influencedJapanese architecture.
Literary works onChinese architecture existed beforehand, but architectural writing blossomed during the Song dynasty, maturing into a more professional form that described dimensions and working materials in a concise, organized manner. In addition to ruins and structures still standing intact, depictions inSong artwork,architectural drawings, and illustrations in published books all aid modern historians in understanding the architecture of the period. The Song dynasty's building manuals aided not only the various private workshops, but also the craftsmen employed by the central government. TheYingzao Fashi, published in 1103, remains the earliest Chinese building manual to survive in full, while literary works such as theDongjing Meng Hua Lu, published in 1147, provide clues about urban landscapes and construction details.
TraditionalChinese architecture encompasses mainly timber structures held up by elaboratedougong brackets, and therefore timber buildings of theSong dynasty (960–1279) shared similar features and components of those built by the contemporaryLiao dynasty (916–1125) andJin dynasty (1115–1234).[1] During the Song period,timber architecture was broadly divided into two main categories: the palace type and hall type.[2] These two types of buildings had fundamental differences in terms of structural support, with palace type buildings containing a roof layer and separatedougong layer, and hall type buildings compensating for a lack of a separate dougong layer by utilizing apanjian rectangular wooden bar to maintain longitudinal stiffness andstructural integrity.[3]
Timber structures were also designed to accommodate differentclimatic conditions.[4] The hot, humid climate of theJiangnan region in southern China prompted Song era engineers to replace heavyrammed earth walls and fixedlattice windows with detachable wooden lattice windows for better regulation ofventilation andinsulation.[5] Southern Song architects in the Jiangnan region preferred not only wooden column platforms but also rammed earth platforms lined with stone and brick to elevate timber buildings for better lighting, ventilation, vantage points, and aesthetic appeal.[6] Construction materials also varied by building type. Song era structures such asbridges were built of either wood or stone,[7] andpagoda towers were constructed using wood or brick.[8] The elevated rammed earth platform or terrace lined with brick and stone and crowned with a wooden structure had existed since theZhou dynasty (1046–256 BC); it was used for various functions such as feasting and holding diplomatic meetings, and served as partial inspiration for the later pagoda in ChineseBuddhist architecture.[9]
While some structures built during the Song era remain intact or in ruins, many of the buildings and much of the construction materials from this era have disappeared or eroded over time.[11]Chinese pavilions,restaurants, andwine shops built in urban areas during the Song period no longer exist, and can only be studied with the aid of primary sources such asgovernment edicts,literature, andartworks.[12] For instance,Zhang Zeduan's large paintingAlong the River During the Qingming Festival, which depicts various buildings, bridges, vehicles, and people inKaifeng, serves as one of the major sources for understanding Song architecture before theJurchenJinsiege and occupation of the capital city in 1127.[13] Various texts from the 12th and 13th centuries also describe the layout of Kaifeng and other cities.[14][a] From these sources it is known where precisecity gates,government palaces, markets, and streets were located in Kaifeng and Lin'an (Hangzhou), the capital of theSouthern Song dynasty.[19]
During theTang dynasty (618–907), urban areas inChina were strictly divided into distinct residential and commercialwards divided bycity walls, and had to follow strictbuilding codes that forbade multistory pavilions to overlook private homes in residential and market areas.[20] TheLater Zhou dynasty (951–960) deviated from this approach, allowing the construction of various lavish multistory buildings catering to merchants, a model of city management inherited by theNorthern Song dynasty.Emperor Renzong of Song issued an edict in 1036 forbidding private homes not used as market shops or pavilions from using elaborate construction methods such ascaisson ceilings, but overall the Song government had a far more relaxed attitude in regulating civilian structures than the Tang.[21] Due to intensely growingcommercialism during the Song period, shops could now line streets in residential areas and did not have to be situated behind precinct walls.[21] Large wine pavilions grew in popularity, to the point that entire streets in Kaifeng were named after them.[22] Song dynasty palaces and temples resembled Tang precedents but gradually became more complex in terms of construction, details, and multistory parts.[8]
Emperor Zhezong of Song commissioned the statesman and scientistSu Song to build a largeastronomicalclocktower in Kaifeng.[23] It was completed in 1094 and had a waterwheel-poweredarmillary sphere along withmechanically operated mannequin musicianswho sounded the hours, but was dismantled after the 1127 siege by Jin forces.[24] Although his tower no longer exists, Su Song described it in thorough detail in ahorological treatise with illustrations.[25]
After theHan dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), the idea of theBuddhiststupa enteredChinese culture fromIndia as a means to house scripturalsutras. During theSouthern and Northern Dynasties period, the distinctiveChinese pagoda was developed, its predecessors being the tall watchtowers and towering residential apartments of the Han dynasty (as inferred frommodels in Han-era tombs).[26] During theSui (581–618) andTang (618–907) periods, pagodas were developed from purely wooden structures to usearticulatedstone andbrick, which could more easily survive fires caused by lightning or arson and were less susceptible to decay. The earliest brick pagoda that remains extant is theSongyue Pagoda, built in 523 by theNorthern Wei, and a typical example of a Tang-era stone pagoda is theGiant Wild Goose Pagoda, constructed in 652.[27] Pagodas during the Song and Liao dynasties had improved masonry designs, survive in greater numbers than those of previous dynasties, and Song structures are distributed mainly south of theYellow River.[28]
Roughly sixty Buddhist pagoda towers built in China during the Song, Liao, and Jin dynasties still survive.[8] Tall Chinese pagodas were often built in the countryside rather than within a city's walls, largely to avoid competition with the cosmic-imperial authority embodied in the cities' drum-towers and gate-towers.[29] However, the Song capital city Kaifeng was filled with pagoda towers, the tallest of which stood 360 ft (100 m) in height and was built byYu Hao to house relics fromMauryan emperorAshoka of India.[8] Pagoda towers built during this period usually contain six or eight sides, are often made of brick or wood, and the brick pagodas are usually built in an imitative style of timber architecture (replicating bracket structures).[8]
The Song period featured true cast-iron pagodas, such as the Iron Pagoda ofYuquan Temple (Jade Springs Temple),Dangyang,Hubei Province. Built in 1061, it incorporates 53,848 kg (118,715 lb) ofcast iron and stands 21.28 m (69.8 ft) tall.[30] TheLiuhe Pagoda, or Six Harmonies Pagoda, is another example of Song-era pagoda architecture. It is located in theSouthern Song capital ofHangzhou, inZhejiang Province, at the foot of Yuelun Hill facing theQiantang River. Although the original was destroyed in 1121, the current tower was erected in 1156 and fully restored by 1165. It stands 59.89 m (196.5 ft) tall, and was constructed from a red brick frame with 13 stages of wooden eaves. Because of its size, the pagoda served as a permanentlighthouse to aid sailors at night.[31] TheLiaodi Pagoda ofDingzhou,Hebei, built in 1055 and standing at a height of 84 meters (276 ft), was used as a religious structure but also as awatchtower for military observation of forces belonging to theKhitan Liao dynasty.[32]
AfterBuddhismspread to China from India during theHan period,Buddhist temples became common throughout the country.[33] With the transmission ofChan Buddhism toJapan, regional Southern Song dynasty building styles influencedJapanese architecture, in particular the construction of the Great South Gate atTodai Temple inNara, and the Reliquary Hall ofEngaku Temple inKamakura, Japan.[8] During the Song period it was typical for wealthy families to facilitate the construction of large temple complexes, usually by donating a portion of their family estate to a Buddhist sect. Often the land already contained buildings that could be repurposed for religions use. The Fei (費) family of the town ofJinze, located just west ofShanghai, converted a mansion on their property into aBuddhist sutra recitation hall, and later built several other religious buildings around the hall. This spurred a boom in temple construction in the area, causing Jinze to become a major center of theWhite Lotus sect of Buddhism, which in turn spurred the construction of more temples during the Song era. The nearby town ofNanxiang gained prominence shortly after theMongol conquest of the Song dynasty in large part due to this construction of temples and other religious buildings.[34]
Temples were also constructed forancestor worship,Daoism, and deities of theChinese folk religion. The Hall of the Saintly Mother (圣母殿) and the Hall of Sacrifice atJin Temple, located in a southeastern suburb ofTaiyuan City,Shanxi province, are extant examples of early Song architecture.[35] The "Hall of Heavenly Blessings" (天贶殿) atDai Temple, located at the foot ofMount Tai inTai'an,Shandong province, was originally built during the Han period, but the reconstructed building dates to 1008 during the Song era.[36] Due toheavy pilgrimage to Dai Temple, a sizable town grew up around the site, which was protected by a rammed earth wall by 1162. This wall was rebuilt entirely in stone from 1511–1553 during theMing period.[36] Almost none of the architecture from the Southern Song capital of Hangzhou has survived. This includes the various temples overseeing its West Lake, which can only be observed in paintings by artists such asLi Song.[8]
The construction of bridges over waterways has been recorded in China since the ancient Zhou dynasty. During the Song dynasty, largetrestle bridges were constructed, such as the one built by Zhang Zhongyan in 1158.[37] There were also large bridges made entirely of stone, like theBazi Bridge ofShaoxing, built in 1256 and still standing today.[38]
In 1221, theTaoist traveler Qiu Changchun visited the court ofGenghis Khan inSamarkand. He described various Chinese bridges encountered on the way there through theTian Shan Mountains, east ofYining.[39] The historianJoseph Needham quotes Qiu and provides commentary:
[The road had] "no less than 48 timber bridges of such width that two carts can drive over them side by side". It had been built by Chang Jung [Zhang Rong] and the other engineers of theChagatai some years before. The wooden trestles of Chinese bridges from the −3rd century [BC] onwards were no doubt similar to those supposed to have been employed inJulius Caesar's bridge of −55 [BC] across theRhine, or drawn byLeonardo, or found in use in Africa. But where in +13th century [AD] Europe could a two-lane highway like Chang Jung's have been found?[39]
InFujian Province, enormous beam bridges were built during the Song dynasty. Some of these were as long as 1,220 m (4,000 ft), with individual spans of up to 22 m (72 ft) in length; their construction necessitated moving massive stones of 203 t (203,000 kg).[38] No names of the engineers were recorded or appear in the inscriptions on the bridges, which give only the names of local officials who sponsored them and oversaw their construction and repair.[38] However, there might have been an engineering school in Fujian, headed by a prominent engineer known asCai Xiang (1012–1067), who had risen to the position of governmentalprefect in Fujian. Between 1053 and 1059, he planned and supervised the construction of the large Wanan Bridge (once called theLuoyang Bridge) nearQuanzhou (on the border of the present-dayLuojiang District andHuai'an County).[38]
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Located southwest ofGongyi city inHenan province, the large tombs of theNorthern Song number about one thousand, including individual tombs for Song emperors, empresses, princes, princesses, consorts, and members of the extended family. The complex extends approximately 7 km (4.3 mi) from east to west and 8 km (5.0 mi) from north to south.[40] The construction of the complex began in 963 AD, during the reign of the first Song ruler,Emperor Taizu of Song, whose father is also buried at the site.[40] The only Northern Song emperors not buried there areEmperor Huizong of Song andEmperor Qinzong of Song, whodied in captivity after theJin–Song Wars in 1127. Lining thespirit ways of the tomb complex are hundreds of Songsculptures andstatues of tigers, rams, lions, horses with grooms, horned beasts and mythical creatures, government officials, military generals, foreign ambassadors, and others featured in an enormous display ofSong-era artwork.[40]
The layout and style of the Song tombs resemble those found in the contemporaryTangut kingdom of theWestern Xia, which also had an auxiliary burial site associated with each tomb.[40] At the center of each burial site is a truncated pyramidal tomb. Each of these tombs was once guarded by a four-walled enclosure containing four centered gates and four corner towers.[41] About 100 km (62 mi) from Gongxian is the Baisha Tomb, which according to historianNancy S. Steinhardt contains "elaborate facsimiles in brick of Chinese timber frame construction, from door lintels to pillars and pedestals to bracket sets, that adorn interior walls".[41] The Baisha Tomb has two large separate chambers with conicaldomed ceilings; a large staircase leads down to the entrance doors of the subterranean tomb.[42]
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Chinese garden architecture during the Song period provided private owners of gardens with a place to rest,enjoy leisure activities, host guests, and admire scenic beauty.[43] While much information about them can be gleaned from sources such aspaintings,poems, records, notes, andhistories,[44] most physical remains of them are now lost.[45] Gardens such asCanglang Pavilion inSuzhou and Shen Garden inShaoxing have been heavily remodeled since they were built in the Song period.[46] The extant gardens ofEmpress Yang (Gongsheng) in Hangzhou and the Zhang Family's East Garden in Shimen,Zhejiang represent the only known archaeological sites with gardens that can be firmly dated to the Song period.[45]
Song Chinese gardens typically featured buildings such as pavilions, halls, terraces, multistory towers, hermitages, and bridges.[47] Theepigrapher andscholar-officialOuyang Xiu constructed a painted "boat-shaped" pavilion (resembling an unmoored boat) in 1042 that provided the sensation of sailing leisurely down a river valley with a railed veranda that overlooked a garden containing steep rocky cliffsides and dense forest. Contemporary scholars praised its design, which soon became popular among wealthy Song Chinese literari and also influenced laterMing (1368–1644) andQing dynasty (1644–1912) gardens.[48] JapaneseZen gardens of theKamakura period share a similar appreciation for emphasizing the vastness of nature in spatial arrangements, while terracedItalian Renaissance gardens tackled similar problems of using sloped terrains.[49]
Outside of government-run schools,private academies were founded in Chinaduring the Tang period. Fueled bythe growth ofwoodblock printing and spread ofNeo-Confucianism, during the Song dynasty they became a common feature within private gardens, where they evolved from private study halls for scholar-officials.[50] Another type was the "high building" used for storing books since the Han dynasty, a multistory building that became popular in Southern Song era gardens for storing books, paintings, and other valuables.[51] This trend among others such as garden buildings with four-sided pyramidal roofs andtiled rooftops linked togethercontinued into the Ming and Qing eras, while roofs with upward curvingeaves were used by both the Southern Song and theMongolYuan dynasty (1279–1368) insouthern China.[52]
During the Song dynasty, Chinese written works on architecture were brought to more sophisticated levels of description, including tomes such as the influentialYili Shigong written in 1193 AD.[54] However, one of the most definitive works was theMu Jing ('Timberwork Manual'), ascribed toYu Hao and written sometime between 965 and 995. Yu Hao was responsible for the construction of a wooden pagoda tower in Kaifeng, which was destroyed by lightning and rebuilt with brick in 1049 as the so-calledIron Pagoda.[53] In his day, books on architecture were still considered a low scholarly achievement due to the social status of craftsmen, soMu Jing was not even recorded in the official court bibliography.[53] Although the book itself was lost to history, the scientist and statesmanShen Kuo wrote of Yu's work extensively in hisDream Pool Essays of 1088, praising it as a work of architectural genius and that no one in his own time could reproduce it.[55] Shen Kuo singled out passages in which Yu Hao gives advice to another artisan-architect about slantingstruts in order to brace a pagoda against the wind; another where Yu Hao describes the three sections of a building, the area above the crossbeams, the area above ground, and the foundation; and another where he provides proportional ratios and construction techniques for each section.[56]
TheYingzao Fashi ('Treatise on Architectural Methods'), a technical treatise on architecture and craftsmanship written at the Directorate of Buildings and Construction, was completed in 1100 and presented toEmperor Zhezong of Song in the last year of his reign.[58] Although similar books came before it, such as theYingshan Ling ('National Building Law') of theearly Tang dynasty,[59] this is the earliest manual on Chinese architecture to have survived in full.[60] Zhezong's successor,Emperor Huizong of Song, had the treatise officially published three years later, in 1103, for the benefit of foremen, architects, and literate craftsmen.[61] The book was intended to provide standard regulations, to not only the engineering agencies of the central government, but also the many workshops and artisan families throughout China who could benefit from using a well-written government manual on building practices.[62]
TheYingzao Fashi includes building codes and regulations, accounting information, descriptions of construction materials, and classification of crafts.[63] In its 34 chapters, the book outlinedunits of measurement,[60] and the construction of moats, fortifications, stonework, and woodwork.[64] For the latter, it included specifications for makingbracketing units with inclined arms and joints for columns andbeams.[65] It also provided specifications for wood carving, drilling, sawing,bamboo construction, tiling,wall building, and decoration.[64] The book also contained recipes for decorative paints,glazes, and coatings.[60] It listed proportions for mixingmortars used in masonry, brickwork, and manufacture of glazed tiles.[66] It illustrated these practices and standards with detailed drawings accompanying the text.[67]
TheYingzao Fashi also outlined structural carpentry in great detail, providing standard dimensional measurements for all components used.[68] Li Jie developed a standard eight-grade system for sizing timber elements, known as thecai-fen system of units, which could be universally applied in wooden buildings.[69] Modern researchers assess the structural integrity of buildings utilizing the methods and building components outlined in theYingzao Fashi.[70]
Roughly 8% of the book was derived from officially published works on architecture; the vast majority of it documented the inherited oral traditions and preexisting written materials of craftsmen and architects.[71] TheYingzao Fashi provided a fullglossary of technical terms that included mathematical formulae, building proportions, and construction techniques, and discussed the implications of the localtopography for construction at a particular site.[72] In his book, Li Jie also estimated the rough daily monetary costs for hiring various laborers and craftsmen possessing different skill levels, and the price of the materials they would need, adjusting these figures for different season of the year.[72]
TheDongjing Meng Hua Lu ('A Dream of Splendors Past in the Eastern Capital'), a memoir and city chronicle published by Meng Yuanlao in 1147, recounts his experiences in Kaifeng during the 1120s and offers vital information about the layout of the capital city and Song cityscapes more broadly.[73] It includes intricate details about city walls, bridges, palaces, government offices, streets, lanes, markets, eateries, pavilions, and shops.[19] The narrative allows the reader to imagine the scenery as if they arewalking through the city, noting important landmarks and observing various sites.[74] TheDucheng Jisheng written in 1235 and theMengliang Lu written in 1274 provide subsequent detailed descriptions of urban environments during the Southern Song era, particularly Lin'an, now modernHangzhou.[75]
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