Main entry:

Feng, Jiren, 1963- author.

Title & Author:

Chinese architecture and metaphor : Song culture in the Yingzao fashi building manual / Jiren Feng.

Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press ; [Hong Kong] : Hong Kong University Press, [2012]
©2012

Description:

xiv, 304 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm.

Series:

Spatial habitus

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-295) and index.
The historical tradition of writing on architecture : from antiquity to the mid-Tenth century -- From the Mujing to the Yingzao fashi : the rise of building manuals and the construction of architectural knowledge -- The Yingzao fashi : the making of widespread legitimated building knowledge -- The Yingzao fashi architectural terminology (I)-bracketing likened to flowers, branches, and foliage : architectural metaphors and conceptualization in Tenth to Twelfth century China -- The Yingzao fashi architectural terminology (II) : the interplay of literature, arts, and craftsmanship.

Summary:

Investigating the historical tradition of Chinese architectural writing from antiquity to thetwelfth century, Chinese Architecture and Metaphor reveals significant and fascinatingsocial and cultural phenomena in the most important primary text for the study of theChinese building tradition. Unlike previous scholarship, which has reviewed this imperiallycommissioned architectural manual largely as a technical work, this volume considersthe Yingzao Fashi's unique literary value and explores the rich cultural implications in andbehind its technical content Utilizing a philological approach, the author pays particular attention to the traditional and contemporary architectural terminology presented in the Yingzao Fashi. In examining the semantic meaning of the architectural terms used in the manual, he uncovers a systematicarchitectural metaphor wherein bracketing elements are likened to flowers, flowering branches, and foliage: Thus pillars with bracketing above are compared to blossoming trees. More importantly, this intriguing imagery was shared by different social groups, in particular craftsmen and literati, and craftsmen themselves employed literary knowledge in naming architectural elements. Relating these phenomena to the unprecedented flourishing of literature, the literati's greater admiration of technical knowledge, and the higher intellectual capacity of craftsmen during the Song, Chinese Architecture and Metaphor demonstrates how the learned and "unlearned" cultures entangled in the construction of architectural knowledge in premodern China. It convincingly shows that technicallanguage served as a faithful carrier of contemporary popular culture and aesthetic concepts.

ISBN:

9780824833633 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
0824833635 (hardcover ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Li, Jie, 1035-1110. Ying zao fa shi.
Li, Jie. Ying zao fa shi.
Ying zao fa shi (Li, Jie)
Architectural writing China History.
Architecture China History Song-Yuan dynasties, 960-1368.
Architecture, Chinese Early works to 1800.
Architecture Art d'écrire Chine Histoire.
Architecture Chine Histoire 960-1368 (Dynasties des Song et des Yuan)
Architecture chinoise Ouvrages avant 1800.
Architectural writing
Architecture, Chinese
Architecture Song-Yuan dynasties
Architektur
Architekturtheorie
Arkitektur.
Arkitektur historia.
China

Form/genre:

Early works
History

Added entries:

Spatial habitus (Series)

Song culture in the Yingzao fashi building manual

Holdings:

Location: Library main 283164
Call No.: BIB 221198
Status: Available